Furie continues fight against hefty fine

Furie Operating Alaska LLC is looking to appeal a recent setback in its legal fight to repel a pending $15 million federal fine.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a Department of Homeland Security agency, imposed the fine for a purported violation of the Jones Act.

The agency alleges Furie violated the shipping law in 2011 when it used a foreign-flag, heavy-haul vessel to transport a jack-up drilling rig partway from Texas to Alaska.

Furie has used the rig for oil and gas exploration in Cook Inlet.

The company hasn’t paid the $15 million fine, so the government is trying to enforce the penalty in court.

On March 27, U.S. District Judge John W. Sedwick denied Furie’s motion to dismiss the government’s claim to the fine, which the company calls one of the highest Jones Act penalties ever assessed.

Part of Furie’s argument is that the Spartan 151 jack-up was not “merchandise,” and thus no violation occurred under the Jones Act.

Furie on May 16 filed a motion for the court to certify its March 27 ruling. This certification is a necessary step for Furie to file an “interlocutory appeal” to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

If the appellate court were to determine the rig didn’t constitute merchandise, the claim to collect the Jones Act penalty “necessarily would fail,” Furie says.

Furie, with offices in Anchorage and League City, Texas, this year plans to install a new offshore platform in its Kitchen Lights unit in Upper Cook Inlet to develop a natural gas discovery.

- Wesley Loy