BP wins first drilling permit since spill

The Obama administration green-lighted a permit Wednesday that allows BP to drill a new well in the Gulf of Mexico, the first such approval for the company since last year’s massive oil spill.

The move paves the way for the embattled oil company to resume drilling in the Gulf about a year and a half after the April 20 spill that dumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into the region.

The permit approval comes a week after the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) approved BP’s supplemental exploration plan. The approval of the plan laid the groundwork for Wednesday’s drilling permit approval.

{mosads}Bureau Director Michael Bromwich said Wednesday that BP complied with a series of beefed-up safety and environmental standards put into place in the aftermath of the oil spill, which resulted in the deaths of 11 workers.

“BP has met all of the enhanced safety requirements that we have implemented and applied consistently over the past year. In addition, BP has adhered to voluntary standards that go beyond the agency’s regulatory requirements,” Bromwich said in a statement. “This permit was approved only after thorough well design, blowout preventer, and containment capability reviews.”

The voluntary standards include additional oversight of the company’s blow-out preventer and laboratory testing of cement used in the well.

The permit approval allows BP to drill an exploratory well about 250 miles south of Lafayette, La., in more than 6,000 feet of water.

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) blasted Interior’s decision to approve the permit, arguing that the administration should not allow BP to drill until it has paid fines form last year’s spill.

“The fact that BP is getting a permit to drill without yet paying a single cent in fines is a disappointment, and does not serve as an effective lesson of deterrence for oil and gas companies,” Markey said in a statement Wednesday. “The Obama administration should move with all haste to assess and collect the fines from BP’s spill, and BP should do its part as a good corporate citizen and end its litigation over the size of the spill, which determines the fines it will pay.”

—This story was updated at 12:31 p.m.