BP wins OK for exploration plan in Gulf of Mexico

[n2doc]

By Neela Banerjee, Washington Bureau
October 21, 2011, 5:41 p.m.
Reporting from Washington— BP won approval from the Interior Department for a plan to explore for oil and gas in deep-water areas of the Gulf of Mexico, moving the company closer to drilling new wells barred after the blowout of its Macondo well touched off the country's worst offshore environmental disaster.

The exploration plan was the first BP had submitted to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in April 2010, killing 11 workers and spewing nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the gulf. Although it received approval, BP will still need permits to drill a particular well.

The agency approved the exploration plan under more stringent rules it developed after the Deepwater Horizon explosion revealed uneven, sometimes lax oversight of offshore energy production by the Minerals Management Service, the new agency's predecessor.

For an exploration plan to be approved, a company must now submit a range of specific technical and environmental information as well as plans to handle a worst-case spill scenario in the event of a blowout. The bureau also does its own environmental assessment of the drill sites.

more

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bp-drill-20111022,0,7489546.story

[NYC_SKP]

1. Huh. 50,686 bore holes out there already... one or two more can't hurt...

Can it?

And a few hundred miles more underwater pipeline added to the 43,656 miles already out there, some more than 50 years old, not a problem.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8385057

:patriot:

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. I seem to spend more and more time with my jaw on the floor.

Right after I spend half my time :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: