Oil Drilling OK'd in 'Gulf of America' – What Happened to Mexico?
Published Date: 3/21/2025
Notice
Summary
NOAA just gave TGS the green light to do geophysical surveys for oil and gas in the Gulf of America, but they must be careful not to harm marine mammals. This permission runs from March 17 to December 31, 2025, and includes rules to keep the impact on sea life super low. If you’re curious, all the details and documents are online for anyone to check out!
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 2 costs, 1 mixed.
TGS authorized to run Gulf of America survey
NOAA issued a Letter of Authorization (LOA) allowing TGS to conduct a 3D ocean bottom node (OBN) geophysical survey in the Gulf of America. The LOA covers activity from March 17, 2025 through December 31, 2025 and describes a survey over about 240 lease blocks in Garden Banks, Keathley Canyon, and Sigsbee Escarpment using two source vessels and the Gemini source.
Mandatory mitigation, monitoring, and reporting rules
The LOA requires TGS to follow the mitigation, monitoring, and reporting requirements set out in NMFS regulations at 50 CFR 217.180 et seq. These requirements are the means to ensure the survey has the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammals and include how NMFS evaluates and authorizes incidental take.
Rice's whale take explicitly not authorized
NMFS did not authorize take of Rice's whale for TGS's survey. The notice states the planned survey will occur in water depths of about 2,000 to 2,800 meters and NMFS does not expect a reasonable potential for take of Rice's whale in association with this activity.
Specific authorized marine mammal take limits listed
NMFS provided species-specific authorized (scaled) take numbers for the TGS survey and determined these are "small numbers" relative to abundance (up to, but not greater than, one-third of abundance). Examples include 518 authorized takes for sperm whale (3,007 abundance, 7.3%), 12,286 for pantropical spotted dolphin (67,225 abundance, 5.2%), and 3,216 for the 'blackfish' guild (6,113 abundance, 15.5%).
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Key Dates
Department and Agencies
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