President Donald Trump on January 29, 2026, signed an executive order (EO), "Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of Cuba," which authorizes tariffs on goods from countries that sell or provide oil to...more
After months of escalating pressure, U.S. military and law enforcement personnel captured Venezuela's disputed ruler, Nicolás Maduro, in a nighttime raid on January 3, 2026. Hours later, with Maduro en route to face federal...more
1/8/2026
/ Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Sector ,
Foreign Policy ,
Infrastructure ,
International Trade ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Treasury
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Dec. 10, 2025, held its Gulf of America Oil and Gas Lease Sale, the first offshore oil and gas lease sale since December 2023 and the first lease sale conducted under the One...more
12/11/2025
/ BOEM ,
Department of the Interior ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Government Agencies ,
Leases ,
New Legislation ,
Offshore Lease ,
Oil & Gas ,
One Big Beautiful Bill Act ,
Permits ,
Trump Administration
In a significant policy shift, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) policy update designed to expedite the oil and gas leasing process on public lands. Through a newly issued...more
5/15/2025
/ Bureau of Land Management ,
Department of the Interior ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Expedited Actions Process ,
Land-Use Permits ,
Mineral Exploration ,
Mineral Leases ,
NEPA ,
Oil & Gas ,
Permits ,
Public Land ,
Trump Administration
President Donald Trump on April 24, 2025, issued an executive order, "Unleashing America's Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources" (the EO), that aims to promote the development of offshore critical minerals in the oceans...more
4/29/2025
/ Defense Production Act ,
Department of the Interior ,
Energy Policy ,
Executive Orders ,
International Trade ,
Mineral Exploration ,
Mineral Extraction ,
Minerals ,
Mining ,
National Security ,
NOAA ,
Outer Continental Shelf ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Supply Chain ,
Trump Administration
In a significant move to accelerate domestic energy development, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has announced emergency permitting procedures that will dramatically compress environmental review timelines. Under...more
4/25/2025
/ Department of the Interior ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Executive Orders ,
Expedited Actions Process ,
NEPA ,
Oil & Gas ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) on April 8, 2025, titled "Strengthening the Reliability and Security of the United States Electric Grid." The order marks a significant step in addressing the growing...more
4/15/2025
/ Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Data Centers ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Electricity ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Power Act ,
FERC ,
Infrastructure ,
National Security ,
Power Grid ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO), "Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 1424," on April 8, 2025, that places coal at the center of the administration's...more
4/14/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Coal Industry ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Review ,
Executive Orders ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Manufacturers ,
National Security ,
NEPA ,
Trump Administration
President Donald Trump's April 8, 2025, proclamation extends the compliance deadline for the EPA's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) by two years, from July 8, 2027 to July 8, 2029, asserting national security concerns...more
4/14/2025
/ Clean Air Act ,
Coal Industry ,
Compliance Dates ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Hazardous Substances ,
MATS ,
National Security ,
NESHAP ,
Pollution Control ,
Time Extensions ,
Trump Administration
In his final days in office, President Joe Biden has exercised his executive authority to withdraw more than 625 million acres of federal waters from future oil and gas leasing – the largest withdrawal of its kind in U.S....more
1/14/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
BOEM ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Leases ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Offshore Lease ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Outer Continental Shelf ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Renewable Energy ,
Trump Administration ,
Waters of the United States
In a surprise decision likely to add further fuel to the fires calling for permitting reform and uncertainty to the environmental review process for federal funding and approval, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of...more
11/27/2024
/ Building Permits ,
CEQ ,
Environmental Assessments ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Review ,
Land-Use Permits ,
Legal History ,
NEPA ,
Permits ,
Phase II ,
Real Estate Development ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory History ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Statutory Authority
In this special Eyes on Washington mini-series, energy attorneys Elizabeth Craddock and Jim Noe provide insights on the potential trajectory of a second Trump Administration in relation to oil and gas policies. Ms. Craddock...more
In this insightful episode of our "Eyes on Washington" election mini-series, Holland & Knight Partners Elizabeth "Liz" Craddock and Jim Noe explore what a potential Harris Administration could mean for the oil and gas...more
For nearly 40 years and in more than 18,000 judicial opinions, federal courts have used the Chevron doctrine to defer to an agency's reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute. On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court...more
9/3/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Corner Post Inc v Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FERC ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Government Agencies ,
HUD ,
IRS ,
Judicial Authority ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
NTSB ,
OCC ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Relentless Inc v US Department of Commerce ,
SCOTUS ,
Stare Decisis ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
U.S. Treasury
A federal court has thrown out key Endangered Species Act (ESA) analyses of oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, which will be vacated as of Dec. 20, 2024. The United States District Court for the District of...more
8/30/2024
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Administrative Procedure ,
Administrative Procedure Act ,
BOEM ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Fully Protected Species ,
Gulf of Mexico ,
Gulf Oil Spill ,
Incidental Take Permits ,
Maritime Transport ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Spills ,
Outer Continental Shelf ,
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act ,
Pending Litigation ,
Wildlife Protection
The U.S. Department of the Interior (Interior) released a final rule that will protect millions of acres of Alaskan wildness from the development of oil, gas and minerals. Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which...more
For a decade, the U.S. Department of the Interior has wrestled with financial assurance (or bonding) requirements for offshore oil and gas companies. Over the last 10 years, the Interior Department has released – and later...more
4/17/2024
/ BOEM ,
Bonds ,
Credit Ratings ,
Decommissioned Facilities ,
Department of the Interior ,
Final Rules ,
Leases ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Offshore Lease ,
Oil & Gas ,
Performance Bonds ,
Public Comment
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) on March 22, 2024, announced its plans for enhancing the protection of the country's wetlands following the U.S. Supreme Court's Sackett v. EPA decision. In Sackett, the Supreme Court...more
3/26/2024
/ Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) ,
Inland Waterways ,
Loss Mitigation ,
Memorandum of Understanding ,
Navigable Waters ,
Rehabilitation and Restoration Plans ,
Sackett ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signaled in mid-February 2024 that they plan to release a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to issue $1 billion through financial...more
2/27/2024
/ Competitive Bidding ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Funding ,
Funding Opportunities ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Methane ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Wells
President Joe Biden on Jan. 26, 2024, announced a pause on pending decisions for permits to export liquified natural gas (LNG) to non-free trade agreement countries until the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) can update the...more
1/30/2024
/ Administrative Review ,
Applications ,
Biden Administration ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Information Association (EIA) ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Exports ,
Liquid Natural Gas ,
National Security ,
Oil & Gas ,
Permits
After months of delay, the U.S. Department of the Interior auctioned off 1.7 million acres for offshore oil and gas leases during Lease Sale 261 on Dec. 20, 2023. (See Holland & Knight's previous alert, "Interior Department...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its final rule on Dec. 2, 2023, to sharply reduce emissions of methane and other air pollution from oil and natural gas operations. The final action, which is more than...more
12/6/2023
/ Air Pollution ,
Compliance ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Final Rules ,
Methane ,
Natural Gas ,
New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Permits ,
Pollution Control ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Storage Tanks
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Nov. 14, 2023, dismissed claims brought by environmental groups challenging offshore oil and gas Lease Sale 261. The court ordered that the sale take place within 37 days of...more
11/16/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Appeals ,
BOEM ,
Department of the Interior ,
Dismissals ,
Endangered Species ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Offshore Lease ,
Oil & Gas
The U.S. Department of the Interior on Sept. 29, 2023, announced its long-awaited Five-Year Offshore Leasing Plan as required by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (the Plan)....more
The U.S. Department of the Interior, through its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), published a proposed rule on June 29, 2023, to significantly modify how the agency assesses the offshore oil and gas industry's...more