Oceana v. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

Re Document No.: 60, 63, 68

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GraNting Federal-Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment; Granting In-tervenor-Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment; Denying Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment

RUDOLPH CONTRERAS, United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon, a deep-water exploratory oil rig, exploded, caught fire, and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in the largest oil spill in the United States in modern history. Less than two years later, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”), approved two lease sales in the area where…