US mulling whether to appeal California lease case

The departments of Interior and Justice are still evaluating a June 20 US District Court decision giving California officials the right to block development of 36 offshore leases, a spokesman for the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service said Thursday. The agencies have not yet decided whether to appeal the decision, which marked the first time a state had won the right to review a lease extension.
MMS late Tuesday said it intended to postpone public hearings on a draft environmental impact statement for proposed oil and gas delineation activities on some of those controversial offshore California leases. "We canceled [the hearings] because we need further time to analyse the court's decision and determine what we need to do to comply with the court's order," the MMS spokesman said.

platts.com