Oil Producers in Osage County Lose Lawsuit Against BIA

 

judgegregoryfrizzell

The oil and gas producers in Osage County who sued the Bureau of Indian Affairs for allegedly delaying applications for drilling permits had their suit thrown out of court Wednesday by Tulsa U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell.

He dismissed the suit without prejudice and in essence, agreed with the BIA that the Osage Producers Association was not exempt from the requirement to exhaust the agency appeals processing before filing the lawsuit.

The BIA argued the OPA and its members failed to exhaust all required administrative remedies before filing the lawsuit and Judge Frizzell agreed.

“Here, the government submits that these regulations require administrative exhaustion and that neither the OPA nor its members have exhausted its claims to compel agency action,” wrote the Judge who said the laws “require exhaustion of the petitioner’s claims to compel agency action and that the court cannot excuse these required procedures on futility grounds.”

He said “Because neither the OPA nor its members have exhausted the agency actions at issue, these actions are not “final” and thus not subject to judicial review…”

Judge Frizzell also ruled the OPA did not identify the specific actions it sought to challenge in the lawsuit but “generally describes certain arbitrary or unlawful agency practices—such as unreasonably delaying the issuance of drilling permits–and requests review of all agency actions falling within those descriptions.”

The lawsuit was brought, as the Judge pointed out in his ruling, after the number of drilling permits issued by the superintendent had dropped substantially since July 2014. He noted that many permit applications had been pending before the Superintendent for well over a year without any action. The Producers’ suit also allegedly that some permits that had been issued also contained new requirements and limitations that were not part of the original application process.

“In December 2015, the superintendent discarded 121 permit applications for failing to provide information for use by the agency in complying with the National Environmental Policy Act,” wrote Judge Frizzell.

While dismissing the lawsuit, the Judge ruled the OPA was also granted “leave to file a second amnded complaint, on or before June 10, 2016 to correct the deficiencies…”

 

 

 

 

— An Oklahoma federal judge on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit accusing the Bureau of Indian Affairs of unreasonably withholding or delaying applications for oil and gas permits, saying a regional trade group failed to exhaust its administrative remedies before bringing the “generic” challenge.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell dismissed the complaint without prejudice, agreeing with the BIA that the Osage Producers Association wasn’t exempt from the requirement to exhaust the agency appeals process before bringing the suit. Judge Frizzell also said the suit failed because the group…