The U.S. is set to approve new Gulf deepwater drilling permits within in the next week—moves that have the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s top drilling regulator, Michael Bromwich, uneasy. While Bromwich complimented some companies for new safety measures, he also said, “There are other operators who, with surprising and disturbing speed, have seemed all-too-ready to shrug off Deepwater Horizon as a complete aberration, a perfect storm, one in a million.” The U.S. has approved four deepwater drilling permits in recent weeks.
