EPA Allows British Petroleum to Return to Gulf

Conservationists are still awaiting a ruling from the federal district court in New Orleans on the question of BP's gross negligence in the Deepwater Horizon disaster.  In a move to restore operations in the Gulf of Mexico and allow it to resume federal leasing, the company agreed to drop a lawsuit against the EPA in return for abiding by monitoring arrangements for five years. The agreement was reached yesterday. The Gulf Restoration Network was not pleased by the agencies decision, calling it "outrageous". BP will be allowed to bid as early as next Wednesday despite the pending decision on the degree of the company's culpability for the disaster which killed eleven platform workers and permanently damaged a large area of the Gulf Coast. Four years after the spill, oil still washes up in places particularly in storms. Public Citizens said the settlement allows a "corporate felon" and repeat offender off the hook for its crimes against people and the environment." An Oppenheimer oil analyst called the agreement a "moral victory for BP". When EPA issued the ban against federal contracting it cited the company for lack of integrity and prohibited BP from selling fuel to the Pentagon or expanding production to new leases in the Gulf.