NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Environmentalists seeking to curb oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico have filed federal lawsuits to shut down a major BP platform and close a government loophole for new oil and gas exploration.
Two lawsuits were filed Monday, one in Alabama and the other in Texas. They target the federal Minerals Management Service, the much-criticized agency that oversees offshore energy leases.
Since a blowout on BP’s Deepwater Horizon platform last month killed 11 workers and triggered a massive spill, the agency has approved at least eight deep-water exploratory wells in the Gulf with minimal environmental reviews.
The first lawsuit seeks to end the practice.
The second seeks to shut down BP’s Atlantis platform, which has operated with incomplete and inaccurate engineering documents.
