Gulf Oil Spill: Preventing Another Disaster

SELC is leading legal efforts to end unchecked industry control of offshore drilling and to ensure that nothing like the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is allowed to happen again.

Ending the Era of Lax Federal Oversight

BP’s massive oil spill has brought to light the lax oversight of offshore drilling by federal regulators, who have routinely allowed oil companies to engage in risky deepwater drilling operations with waivers from environmental review and wholly inadequate emergency response plans. The result is the worst manmade environmental disaster in the nation’s history.

Even after the Deepwater Horizon blowout, the federal agency in charge of policing offshore drilling, the Minerals Management Service (now known as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement) (pdf), continued to approve dozens of similar drilling operations in the Gulf—all with the same inadequate scrutiny of environmental impacts. This dangerous practice must be stopped. 


SELC Takes Legal Action


On May 17, 2010, SELC and Defenders of Wildlife filed suit against MMS for its failure to require a thorough examination of spill risks from drilling operations.  In addition to holding the agency accountable for its complicity in the disaster, our lawsuit seeks to overturn exemptions from legally required environmental reviews that MMS has issued since the April 20 blowout. Some of the projects approved would be almost twice as deep (over 9,000 feet) as the one that hemorrhaged oil in the Gulf for nearly three months (almost 5,000 feet).

On June 11, we expanded our lawsuit to include MMS’s continued approval of new leases to BP and other companies for the right to drill even more deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico under the same lax oversight.

Click here for offshore oil drilling legal document downloads.

Defending the Ban on New Deepwater Drilling

On behalf of a coalition of environmental groups, SELC is in federal court defending the government’s temporary moratorium on new deepwater wells against a challenge from oil industry interests. Without the moratorium, oil companies could advance new, risky deepwater drilling projects without further safety considerations after the tragic explosion and under the same free pass from environmental review as the BP Deepwater Horizon.

On June 22, 2010, a federal judge in Louisiana struck down the moratorium, which affected less than one percent of the total wells in the Gulf and allowed for vital safety reviews to prevent further loss of life and the type of environmental destruction now damaging much of the Gulf. The government and SELC and its clients are appealing the decision.

 Holding BP Accountable

We are just beginning to see the devastating toll the Gulf spill will take on marine and coastal wildlife. SELC and Defenders of Wildlife served legal notice to BP and government agencies for their failure to take thorough precautions to prevent harm to endangered and threatened fish and wildlife, as required by federal law. Oil and chemical dispersants from the blowout imperil more than 30 at-risk species in the Gulf region, ranging from sperm whales to water birds and sea turtles.

Working in Congress for Reforms and a Clean Energy Future

In tandem with our legal action, SELC is working in Congress to shape and advance legislative measures that will yield fundamental reforms in the oversight of offshore oil and gas exploration and production, including meaningful safety and environmental protections, and strong enforcement.  Read SELC’s 1-page backgrounder on key measures that must be included in any legislation Congress passes on this subject.

We also continue to press for major climate and energy bills that will help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and spur the development of clean and renewable alternatives.

Beyond the Gulf: Learn more about SELC’s defense of new areas targeted for offshore drilling in the South Atlantic and Eastern Gulf.