Mobil Oil Exploration & Producing Southeast, Inc. v. United States, 530 U.S. 604, 25 (2000)

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628 MOBIL OIL EXPLORATION & PRODUCING

SOUTHEAST, INC. v. UNITED STATES Stevens, J., dissenting

any activity described in detail in an exploration plan and affecting any land use or water use" in a State's coastal zone, § 1340(c)(2); actual permission to proceed had to wait for the State's CZMA certification.) Despite this hard deadline, September 19 came and went without DOI's issuance of approval.

DOI's explanation came two days later, on September 21, 1990, in a letter to Mobil Oil from the MMS's Acting Regional Supervisor for Field Operations, Lawrence Ake. Without commenting on DOI's substantive assessment of the POE, the Ake letter stated that the OBPA "specifically prohibit[s]" the MMS from approving any POE "until at least October 1, 1991." App. 129. "Consequently," Mr. Ake explained, the MMS was suspending operation on the Manteo Unit leases "in accordance with 30 CFR § 250.10(b)(7)," ibid., a regulation issued pursuant to the OCSLA and, of course, incorporated thereby into the parties' lease agreement. One week after that, on September 28, 1990, the MMS's Regional Director, Bruce Weetman, sent a letter to Governor Martin of North Carolina, elaborating on MMS's actions upon receipt of the August 20 POE. App. to Pet. for Cert. in No. 99-253, pp. 193a-195a. According to Weetman, the POE "was deemed complete on August 30, and transmitted to other Federal Agencies and the State of North Carolina on that date. Timely comments were received from the State of North Carolina and the U. S. Coast Guard. An analysis of the potential environmental [e]ffects associated with the Plan was conducted, an Environmental Assessment (EA) was prepared, and a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) was made." Id., at 193a. Based on these steps taken by the MMS, it concluded that the POE was "approvable" but that the MMS was "currently prohibited from approving it." Thus, the letter concluded, the POE would "remain on file" pending the resolution of the OBPA requirements, and the lease suspensions would continue in force in the interim. Id., at 194a.

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