Curtas do Bryant´s

EPA – air permit violations during Arctic drilling

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a news release stating that it has reached a settlement with Shell Gulf of Mexico and Shell Offshore for violations of their Clean Air Act permits for Arctic oil and gas exploration drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Shell has agreed to pay $710,000 for violations of the Discovery air permit and $390,000 for violations of the Kulluk air permit. (9/5/13).

Court – shipwreck abandonment

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed that title to a shipwrecked vessel in New York waters of Lake Erie is vested in New York State pursuant to the Abandoned Shipwreck Act. The ship sank in the early nineteenth century. The court held that abandonment of the wreck may be proven circumstantially. Northeast Research v. One Shipwrecked Vessel, No. 11-1644 (2nd Cir., September 5, 2013).

Court – proprietary interest required for oil spill damage claim

The Multi-District Litigation (MDL) court in the matter of the Deepwater Horizon/Macondo oil spill ruled that the individual Mexican States lack standing to pursue a claim in the instant case because they do not have a proprietary interest in the marine resources off the coast of Mexico that were allegedly injured by the oil spill. The court found that, under the Mexican Constitution and Mexican law, marine resources are owned by the United Mexican States and not by the individual states. In re Deepwater Horizon, MDL 2179 (E.D. La., September 6, 2013). Fonte: Dennis Bryant.