First New Deepwater Gulf Drilling Permit Goes to ... Wait for It ... BP!

David Dayen at Firedoglake:

The Obama Administration approved the first deepwater drilling well permit for the Gulf of Mexico, 11 months after the BP oil disaster.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement announced Monday that it issued a permit to Noble Energy Inc. to continue work on its Santiago well about 70 miles southeast of Venice, La. Drilling will resume nearly one year after BP’s blowout created the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.

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“Noble Energy,” as it turns out, is not accurate. In fact, BP holds the largest stake in the well approved today.

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So to recap, BP owns twice as much a stake in this well as Noble Energy, and yet the announcement of the permit says that Noble Energy received it. Noble operates the well, but BP is the biggest stakeholder, and as such could be the biggest voice in making key decisions about cost and safety.

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But suffice to say this – the team that brought you millions of gallons of oil a day spilling into the Gulf, is back drilling in the Gulf. We’ll see if they learned anything.

I'd say both parties have learned very big lessons here: BP that it can destroy an entire ocean ecosystem and get away with it, and the Obama administration that you can never punch hippies hard enough.