Streamlining The Permit Process For Ocean Discharges

Nation is accelerating its schedule for leasing offshore land for oil/gas operations. Over the next few years, about one billion acres of seabed will open up for sale. To discharge wastes during oil/gas operations, drillers must acquire permits from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which will issue them with conditions appropriate to protecting the environment of the lease sites. Permit writing is an arduous and time consuming task. To react in a timely fashion, Agency is devising an automated way to quickly obtain the needed data for permits, and for cutting down on the time taken for preparing them. Final product will allow a permit writer to input the latitudes and longitudes of ocean discharges and their characteristics. He will receive as an output the suggested conditions for drilling permits.