AP reports that a rule change put in place by the Bush Interior Department in April 2008 exempted BP from filing a plan on how it would handle a blowout scenario such as the one flooding the Gulf of Mexico with oil today.
Petrochemical giant BP didn't file a plan to specifically handle a major oil spill from an uncontrolled blowout at its Deepwater Horizon project because the federal agency that regulates offshore rigs changed its rules two years ago to exempt certain projects in the central Gulf region, according to an Associated Press review of official records.
The Minerals Management Service, an arm of the Interior Department known for its cozy relationship with major oil companies, says it issued the rule relief because some of the industrywide mandates weren't practical for all of the exploratory and production projects operating in the Gulf region.
The blowout rule, the fact that it was lifted in April 2008 for rigs that didn't fit at least one of five conditions, and confusion about whether the BP Deepwater Horizon project was covered by the regulation, caught the attention of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
According to AP, Salazar was not aware that BP had been exempted from filing a blowout scenario plan until an AP reporter approached him with the information. Apparently, the Minerals Management Service says the rule changes were made because a blowout scenario plan was impractical.
AP pressed MMS for an explanation of why the rules were changed, but no official would speak on the record. However, one MMS official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to discuss the matter said the rules were changed because some elements were impractical for some deepwater drilling projects in the Gulf.
If having a plan for dealing with a massive well blowout scenario is impractical (which, based on what we are seeing today, it is), then isn't deep sea offshore drilling also impractical?
Update (3:14PM): In response to a directive from President Obama, the Interior Department earlier today suspended plans to sell leases for oil and gas drilling off the coast of Virginia.