The New York Times twice turned to OREC this week for commentary on the MMS/FERC jurisdictional dispute. In this piece, Surf Battle Generates Fear of Ocean Squatting , Carolyn Elefant, counsel to OREC was quoted as saying:
Preliminary permits are easy to get, and that can lead to “a lot of gamesmanship” in areas known to have good energy prospects, said Carolyn Elefant, a lawyer with the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition.
“There are a lot of people who have these visions of flipping sites, selling sites, jumping claims and making people buy them off,” she said. “It’s the Wild West.”
Later that day, following the MMS and FERC announcement of an agreement to resolve the disputes, Sean O’Neill was quoted in the New York Times piece Agencies End Feud on Offshore Projects.
Sean O’Neill of the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition also praised the agreement. The group prefers a memorandum of understanding over a legislative resolution, saying it would allow for better flexibility.