Feds, Furie delay Jones Act settlement

A U.S. attorney has asked for additional time to finalize a settlement between the federal government and Furie Operating Alaska LLC over a large Jones Act violation fine.

In a Jan. 2 letter, U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler asked the court for an additional 20 days to get final approval for the settlement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

In 2016, Furie and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a “tentative” settlement to their long-running legal dispute. The two sides have withheld the details of the settlement while they wait for the Justice Department to issue final authorization.

A 20-day delay could push a final decision about the settlement as late as Jan. 22, which would push the decision to the incoming Trump administration. The delay would not, however, require the court to extend its current timetable for a potential court case. The court recently extended the timetable for the case to accommodate a previous delay.

The current delay is the third since the two sides announced the settlement in late August 2016. In late September, Loeffler told the court that she expected approval within 45 days. But in a status update submitted on Nov. 24, Loeffler asked for another 30 days, saying she was unsure how long it would take the appropriate officials at the department to reach a final decision. In the current request for additional time, Loeffler said she was “not able to estimate how much additional time it will take” to get final authorization.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection assessed a $15 million fine against Furie predecessor Escopeta Oil Co. in October 2011, after the company brought the Spartan 151 jack-up rig to Alaska to explore the offshore Kitchen Lights unit. The federal agency accused the company of violating the Jones Act, which requires any vessel moving between domestic ports to be built, flagged, crewed and mostly owned by Americans.

The following summer, Furie sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, calling the fine “unwarranted and unprecedented.” The two sides entered mediation late last year.

- ERIC LIDJI