Opinion ID: 3065893
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Heading: A discussion of your regional OSRP;

Text: (ii) The location of your primary oil spill equipment base and staging area; (iii) The name(s) of your oil spill removal organization(s) for both equipment and personnel; (iv) The calculated volume of your worst case discharge scenario (see 30 CFR 254.26(a)), and a comparison of the appropriate worst case discharge scenario in your approved regional OSRP with the worst case discharge scenario that could result from your proposed exploration activities; and (v) A description of the worst case discharge scenario that could result from your proposed exploration activities (see 30 CFR 254.26(b), (c), (d), and (e)). Shell did not attach a copy of a facility-specific oil spill response plan to its exploration plan under 30 C.F.R. § 550.219(a)(1). It therefore must satisfy the alternate requirements of § 550.219(a)(2). NATIVE VILLAGE v. SALAZAR 6241 charge comparisons based on that spill plan as required by 30 C.F.R. § 550.219(a)(2)(iv). Rather, the exploration plan’s worst case discharge comparisons were based on the estimated discharge in the revised spill plan, which was still undergoing review. [1] Nevertheless, BSEE’s approval of the revised spill response plan on March 28, 2012, renders petitioners’ challenge to this inconsistency in the exploration plan moot. “The basic question in determining mootness is whether there is a present controversy as to which effective relief can be granted.” Nw. Envtl. Def. Ctr. v. Gordon, 849 F.2d 1241, 1244 (9th Cir. 1988). We have held that challenges to prior biological opinions for river hydropower system operations became moot upon issuance of superseding biological opinions because we could no longer grant effective relief as to the now non-operative biological opinions. See Am. Rivers v. Nat’l Marine Fisheries Serv., 126 F.3d 1118, 1124 (9th Cir. 1997); Idaho Dep’t of Fish & Game v. Nat’l Marine Fisheries Serv., 56 F.3d 1071, 1074-75 (9th Cir. 1995). We are faced with a similar situation: Shell’s revised spill plan was approved in 2012, and therefore Shell’s exploration plan now references and makes the required worst case discharge scenario comparison to an approved spill plan. The informational requirements of 30 C.F.R. § 550.219(a)(2) are satisfied, and there is no relief we can now provide petitioners to redress their concerns. We also reject petitioners’ argument (which is, in any event, waived because it was raised for the first time at oral argument) that Shell amended its oil spill response plan after submitting it to BSEE, and that therefore the spill plan approved by BSEE included different oil spill trajectories, equipment, fleet size, and techniques than did the spill plan discussed in the exploration plan. Given that petitioners conceded at oral argument that Shell’s amendments to the approved 2012 spill plan did not change the worst case discharge numbers discussed in the exploration plan, these dif6242 NATIVE VILLAGE v. SALAZAR ferences are not relevant, and therefore this argument also fails. [2] In light of BSEE’s approval of Shell’s revised plan in March 2012, we dismiss petitioners’ claim as moot.