Arctic Oil & Gas White Papers - Overview and Operations

Professor Betsy Baker and the Institute for Energy and the Environment announce a series of white papers titled "Implementing Offshore Oil and Gas Guidelines in the United States and Canada.” The introduction and the first of four IEE White Papers are now available.

The Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School is pleased to present this white paper series on “Implementing the Arctic Offshore Oil and Gas Guidelines in the United States and Canada.” We began the project well before the fatal April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion at the BP Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. Our objective was to compare relevant U.S. and Canadian laws and regulations for ways in which they comport with the Arctic Offshore Oil and Gas Guidelines endorsed by the Arctic Council in 2009. We believe that the Guidelines, or AOOGG, can serve as a template for both countries as they revisit, revise and possibly even harmonize aspects of their regulatory systems for this fragile and resource-rich region. The series focuses on the western Arctic because both countries have offshore oil and gas jurisdiction there and share a boundary in the Beaufort Sea; the United States has no Arctic waters on the eastern side of the North American continent.