Environmental Reviews Might Be Waived on Halted U.S. Deep Wells

Drilling regulators may not require new environmental reviews for 13 companies that were forced by the U.S. to suspend work on deep-water oil wells after BP Plc’s Gulf of Mexico spill. The policy change will cover work on 16 wells in the Gulf, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, previously called the Minerals Management Service, said today in an e-mailed statement. The companies must still meet other safeguards put in place in response to the BP spill. The 13 companies won’t be required to revise their exploration plans if an updated estimate of the most oil that would be released in an uncontrolled spill is less than the amount included in spill-response plans on file with the bureau. If the worst-case discharge estimate is higher, “further reviews will be conducted,” according to the statement...more