U.S. Appeals Court Vacates Lease Program For Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas

摘要

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on April 17 vacated the Bush administration's five-year oil and gas leasing program for the Outer Continental Shelf "on the grounds that the Program's environmental sensitivity rankings are irrational" (Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Department of Interior, D.C. Cir., No. 07-1247, 4/17/09).rnThe Interior Department must reconsider the 2007-2012 plan-under which leases have already been sold-and substitute a new plan that is in accordance with the ruling and the terms of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the court said.