US unlikely to finalize Arctic drilling safety rules

摘要

Washington-The US Department of the Interior is unlikely to finalize new Arctic-specific drilling regulations before President Barack Obama leaves the White House in January, an agency source said Monday. The regulations, originally unveiled in February 2015, were to include new response plans for oil spills and stricter requirements for access to source control and containment equipment, among other Arctic-specific provisions. The final version of these rules, however, have been delayed for months, and on Monday, an Interior source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was likely that the final rules would never be released.