Press Release | November 8, 2011

New Federal Oil Drilling Plan Ignores BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster

Statement by Catherine Wannamaker, Senior Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center on New Federal Drilling Plan for the Gulf of Mexico

“The new federal drilling plan ignores the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster by using the same flawed assumptions to continue leasing the Gulf of Mexico to oil companies for more risky deep water drilling.

“This new federal plan is apparently based on a government gamble that re-using the same erroneous analysis and faulty assumptions won’t lead to another oil spill. The government’s path forward in the Gulf is already the subject of a court challenge, yet today’s announcement is just more of a “business as usual” approach.”

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The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation’s most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region’s air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 200, including more than 120 legal and policy experts, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, D.C.

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