On June 3rd, 2025, a California court ordered the Houston-based oil company Sable Offshore Corp. (Sable) to halt the opening of the Las Flores Pipeline System in Santa Barbara, California. This is a significant blow to Sable’s attempt at revitalizing and reopening the Santa Ynez Unit (Unit), the oil platforms and pipes responsible for the 2015 Refugio oil spill.
In 2009, President George W. Bush created three marine national monuments conserving and protecting over 195,000 square miles. These designations created environmental safeguards by prohibiting commercial fishing and the extraction of natural resources within the area.
Plaintiffs sued the state of Mississippi for introducing private leasing of on-bottom oyster harvesting on public reefs. In 2023, the Mississippi Legislature passed a law to authorize the DMR to lease up to eighty percent of the state-owned reef permitted areas available.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024-2025 Term was another important one for environmental law! The Court issued opinions in several cases with implications for the management of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources. In this webinar, the National Sea Grant Law Center will discuss in detail the court’s rulings related to the proper scope of environmental review under NEPA and a challenge to the EPA’s Clean Water Act permitting authority. We’ll also touch on a few smaller cases and revisit some major opinions from previous terms, such as Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, to see how the legal and regulatory system is responding. The webinar will conclude with a preview of the Court’s 2025-2026 term. The Law Center has applied to the Mississippi Commission on Continuing Legal Education for approval of this course for 1 hour of CLE credit.
On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, limiting the scope of review of environmental impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The National Sea Grant Law Center welcomes Bradley Reimer for its 2025 Community Engaged Internship (CEI)! Bradley is a Legal Studies major at the University of Mississippi.