The Trump administration is halting an independent scientific study of offshore oil inspections by a federal safety agency created after the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine says it was told to cease review of the inspection program conducted by the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Established following the massive BP spill, the bureau was assigned the role of improving offshore safety inspections and federal oversight.
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Part of the Interior Department, the bureau is also tasked with improving offshore drilling environmental protections. Bureau spokesman Greg Julian says the study may be duplicating other work.
Spokesman William Kearney at the National Academies says the study is important and that its grouping of scientists, engineers and other experts is disappointed.
