Maryland's federal court overturned a National Marine Fisheries Service assessment, requiring it to strengthen protections for endangered species from offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
Maryland's federal court overturned a National Marine Fisheries Service assessment, which governs endangered and threatened marine species protection from offshore oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The court ruled that the biological opinion, prepared under the Endangered Species Act, failed to adequately assess potential future oil spills and lacked sufficient safeguards for imperiled species like whales and sea turtles. The ruling requires the Fisheries Service to fix its flawed analysis and comply with the law to implement meaningful safeguards for Gulf's rare marine species.
August 20, 2024
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