California v. Watt

668 F.2d 1290 (1981)

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California v. Watt

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
668 F.2d 1290 (1981)

  • Written by Liz Nakamura, JD

Facts

The State of California (plaintiff) challenged a five-year offshore oil leasing plan issued by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) (defendant). California argued that MMS’s five-year plan violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) because (1) MMS failed to consider all required statutory timing and location factors; (2) the five-year plan did not represent an equitable sharing of environmental risks and oil development benefits among the affected regions; and (3) the five-year plan was not based on a comprehensive risk-benefit analysis. MMS countered, arguing that (a) it only needed to consider the timing and location factors for which probative information was available at the time the five-year plan was developed; and (b) the primary environmental risk was the risk of an oil spill, which was roughly equivalent nationwide.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)

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