ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20056
No(s). 23-60027 (5th Cir. Apr 4, 2024)

The Fifth Circuit denied environmental groups' petition to review DOT's approval of a license to construct and operate a large deepwater oil facility off the Texas coast. The groups argued the final EIS applied a "flawed" alternatives analysis and "grossly underestimated" the facility's environmental impacts and a host of foreseeable consequences, including oil spills, harmful impacts on animals, catastrophic ruptures, and diminished air quality. The court found the final EIS adequately considered the direct and indirect effects of various oil spills, analyzed potential effects and risks of worst-case spills in several situations DOT considered “reasonably foreseeable,” reasonably determined it need not be supplemented with new data concerning habitat of Rice’s whale because the whale’s occurrence near the facility was “extremely unlikely,” and took the requisite “hard look” at effects on air quality as well as alternatives. It denied the petition.