American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2017 - 14

IndustryDigest
Lawsuit Contends CRA
Violates Constitution

WASHINGTON-A lawsuit
challenging a Congressional Review
Act resolution passed by Congress and
signed by President Trump could have
implications for other attempts to roll
back Obama-era regulations because it
argues the CRA violates the U.S.
Constitution, the National Ocean
Industries Association warns.
NOIA reports the Center for
Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit
April 20 in the U.S. District Court for
the District of Alaska at Anchorage,
seeking to overturn HJR 69, which was
introduced in February, passed by both
the House and Senate, and signed by
President Trump on April 3.
HJR 69 overturns "Nonsubsistence
Take of Wildlife, and Public
Participation and Closure Procedures, on
National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska,"
which was finalized by the U.S.
Department of Interior in August 2016 to
limit hunting of wolves, bears and other
predators in national wildlife refuges in
Alaska.
"(Center for Biological Diversity v.
Department of the Interior) impacts
other CRAs by arguing that a provision
in (HJR 69) violates the Constitution's
separation of powers doctrine by
preventing agencies from issuing a
substantially similar rule to the one
overturned," NOIA says.
Specifically, the lawsuit explains,
Section 801(b)(2) of the CRA prohibits
the executive branch from promulgating
"any rule that is substantially the same
as" the rule rejected by Congress
"unless the reissued or new rule is
authorized specifically by a law enacted
after the date of the joint resolution
disapproving the original rule."
"This constraint on future rule
making violates the separation of
powers that must be maintained
between the legislative and executive
branches under the U.S. Constitution,"
the plaintiffs argue.
Because the CRA has never been
tested in court, NOIA points out, the
term, "substantially similar," has yet to
be defined.
The association notes that prior to
this year, the CRA was used only once,
to kill a Clinton-era ergonomics rule.
President Trump, meanwhile, had
signed 13 resolutions of disapproval by
the end of April, NOIA notes. r
14 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

Supreme Court Won't
Rule On Challenge
To Polar Bear Habitat

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Supreme
Court in early May declined to hear a
challenge to an Obama administration
decision to designate 187,000 square
miles of Alaskan coastal land and the
surrounding sea ice as critical habitat
for polar bears, according to a report
from the Independent Petroleum
Association of America.
Several parties, including the Alaska
Oil & Gas Association, Alaska Native
Corporation and the state, challenged
the 2010 designation by the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service, and in 2013, the U.S.
District Court for the District of Alaska
ruled USFWS had failed to explain why
it needed to protect so much land, and
that the service did not follow proper
government procedures (AOGR,
February 2013, pg. 29).
However, in February 2016, the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
overturned the district court, holding
that USFWS's decision was not
arbitrary, capricious or otherwise in
contravention of applicable law (AOGR,
April 2016, pg. 21). The 9th Circuit said
the district court held USFWS to a
standard of specificity that the
Endangered Species Act did not require.
In appealing the 9th Circuit's
decision to the Supreme Court, IPAA
says the plaintiffs argued that the ruling
allowed USFWS to make "sweeping
designations (in this case an area the
size of California) that overlapped with
human development (including, even,
industrial areas)."
The designated habitat covers "the
entire ancestral homelands for certain
native communities, as well as the
largest and most productive oil field in
North America," IPAA says the groups
wrote. r

U.S.-China 'Action Plan'
Good For LNG Exports

HOUSTON-The 100-day action
plan agreed to by U.S. President Donald
Trump and People's Republic of China
President Xi Jinping has the potential to
alter global liquefied natural gas trade
and open the door to more U.S. exports,
according to global consultancy Wood
Mackenzie.

The U.S. Department of Commerce
reports Trump and Jinping signed the
agreement at their meeting May 11 at
the Mar-a-Lago Club resort in Palm
Beach, Fl. The action plan comes under
the U.S.-China Comprehensive
Economic Dialogue, which addresses
issues in areas including agricultural
trade, financial services, investment and
energy, Commerce says.
Specific to LNG, Commerce says,
the United States promises to "treat
China no less favorably than other nonFree-Trade-Agreement trade partners."
This means, says Massimo DiOdoardo, head of global gas and LNG
research at Wood Mackenzie, that
Chinese companies now may negotiate
long-term contracts to source LNG from
U.S. suppliers. "Until now, Chinese
buyers have not bought long-term LNG
supply directly from the United States,"
he observes. "This ensures U.S. LNG
entering the Chinese market will be
politically palatable."
A wire service report quotes Eben
Burnham-Snyder with Cheniere Energy
Inc. as saying the agreement should
"amplify and accelerate conversations
about new long-term contracts."
"Cheniere has had extensive
negotiations with several Chinese
commercial entities," Burnham-Snyder
adds. "Obviously, with this agreement,
we expect this to accelerate."
The same report quotes Scott Atha,
director of LNG marketing and
commercial strategy for North
American projects at Liquefied Natural
Gas Ltd., which is developing the
Magnolia LNG export terminal in
Louisiana, as calling the agreement "a
positive statement from the Trump
administration about the LNG industry.
It provides us additional confidence the
Chinese market can be open to U.S.
projects."
Di-Odoardo says Wood Mackenzie
considers China as the world's largest
LNG growth market. The country's
total LNG demand in 2016 amounted to
26 million tons, and Di-Odoardo says
Wood Mackenzie expects it to reach 75
million tons by 2030, which it says is
equivalent to $26 billion a year at $7.00
an MMBtu.
"In the longer term, the deal paves
the way for a second wave of
investment in U.S. LNG," Di-Odoardo
projects. "Developers now will be able
to target Chinese buyers directly,



American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2017

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