Around the Gulf

• As this edition went to press, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in Omega Protein v. Samson Contour Energy, No. 07-30725 (5th Cir., November 10, 2008), that failure to properly train a master on how to use electronic obstruction warning equipment did not make the vessel owner fully liable for the collision with another ship.  Further, the decision found that the vessel owner is not prevented from limiting its liability where there is insufficient evidence that the failure to train the master caused the collision.

• Iowa’s Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program is making strides in preventing nutrients used in farming from not only traversing the state’s waterways but also from having an impact hundreds of miles down stream in the Gulf of Mexico.  On October 29, 2008, the Gulf of Mexico Program Partnership presented three Iowa environmental entities with a third-place Gulf Guardian Award for their work in partnering with Gulf agencies in these efforts.

• A Mexican company, Petroleos Mexicanos, could triple the amount of its exploratory offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico as the result of new contracting arrangements approved under a revised Mexican law.  The new legislation - Regulating Article 27 of the Constitution - empowers the country’s exploration and production agency to award contracts directly under certain conditions, such as when safety and protection of the environment are involved or in the case of risk or emergency, while all other contracts will be awarded under the traditional arrangement of competitive bidding