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The U.S. Department of the Interior on Thursday proposed a five-year offshore leasing plan that opens up nearly all federal waters to potential drilling.

On December 29, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (“BSEE”) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) (82 FR 61703) that would amend the 2016 rules which established Oil and Gas Production Safety Operations on the Outer Continental Shelf.

On December 29, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) published a final rule (82 FR 61924) which was effective immediately, which rescinded the BLM’s 2015 rule affecting oil and gas hydraulic fracturing operations on Federal and Indian lands. BLM concluded that these rules “impose administrative burdens and compliance costs that are not justified.”

On December 28, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ADPRM”) (82 FR 61507) seeking comments from the public as it considers proposing new guidelines for greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from existing electric utility generating units (“EGUs”).

In May, the Texas Supreme Court handed down its decision in Lightning Oil Company v. Anadarko E&P; Onshore, LLC, No. 15-0910 (Tex. May 19, 2017), holding that an oil and gas operator did not need a mineral lessee’s consent to utilize an off-site location for directional drilling. The case arose out of a dispute between an oil and gas operator (Anadarko) that wanted to drill off-site from an adjacent tract and the mineral lessee of that adjacent tract (Lightning).