Cite as: 530 U. S. 604 (2000)
Opinion of the Court
Moreover, OBPA changed pre-existing contract-incorporated requirements in several ways. It delayed approval, not only of an Exploration Plan but also of Development and Production Plans; and it delayed the issuance of drilling permits as well. It created a new type of Interior Department environmental review that had not previously existed, conducted by the newly created Environmental Sciences Review Panel; and, by insisting that the Secretary explain in detail any differences between the Secretary's findings and those of the Panel, it created a kind of presumption in favor of the new Panel's findings.
The dissent argues that only the statements contained in the letter from Interior to the companies may constitute a repudiation because "the enactment of legislation is not typically conceived of as a 'statement' of anything to any one party in particular," and a repudiation requires a "statement by the obligor to the obligee indicating that the obligor will commit a breach." Post, at 630-631, n. 4 (opinion of Stevens, J.) (quoting Restatement § 250). But if legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President is not a "statement by the obligor," it is difficult to imagine what would constitute such a statement. In this action, it was the United States who was the "obligor" to the contract. See App. to Pet. for Cert. in No. 99-253, at 174a (lease, identifying "the United States of America" as the "Lessor"). Although the dissent points out that legislation is "addressed to the public at large," post, at 631, n. 4, that "public" includes those to whom the United States had contractual obligations. If the dissent means to invoke a special exception such as the "sovereign acts" doctrine, which treats certain laws as if they simply created conditions of impossibility, see Winstar, 518 U. S., at 891-899 (principal opinion of Souter, J.); id., at 923-924 (Scalia, J., concurring in judgment), it cannot do so here. The Court of Federal Claims rejected the application of that doctrine to this action, see
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