Green Groups and Industry Both Suing Over Gulf Oil, Gas Review

Both environmental organizations and energy industry players led by Louisiana filed separate lawsuits Tuesday challenging the National Marine Fisheries Service’s evaluation of the effects oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico have on endangered species.

The Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Turtle Island Restoration Network, and Friends of the Earth complaint said the biological opinion released the same day violates the Endangered Species Act and “repeats many of the same legal errors” as its similar opinion from 2020.

The agency’s opinion didn’t meet the ESA’s requirements by “omitting anticipated incidental take of marine mammals and incidental take ...