A federal court ruled Monday to postpone vacating a federal environmental analysis of oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after oil companies argued that the decision threatened to shut down regional production and raise oil prices for consumers.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland’s ruling on Monday is in response to oil companies appealing the court’s earlier order, made at the behest of environmental groups, to vacate the National Marine Fisheries Service’s 2020 biological opinion on offshore oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico.
The NMFS opinion is a required analysis that examines whether a proposed action, such as oil drilling, would endanger species and their habitat. Oil drilling cannot occur without an issued biological opinion.
