From: Natural Gas Intelligence
The Interior Department on Friday officially launched an interagency review process that may impose the first minimum standards for oil and natural gas activity in U.S. Arctic waters.
A draft of the Arctic regulations was sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Friday. Currently there are no specific mandates governing Arctic energy development. Federal agencies regulate drilling in the Arctic as they would for other offshore areas, but the 2010 Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico led to more stringent reviews of offshore drilling.
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The notice of proposed rulemaking is scheduled to be published in September, according to OMB.