The Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a final, prepublication air rule on May 14, 2020 (30 CFR §§ 550 et seq.). It updates air quality rules in the central and western Gulf of Mexico and offshore Alaska’s North Slope of the Outer Continental Shelf (submerged lands seaward approximately 200 nautical miles off state coastal waters). BOEM under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and the Clean Air Act, and not the Environmental Protection Agency, regulates air emissions from exploration and production facilities (“offshore facilities”) in these OCS regions. Continue reading >