E2-Wire

The Obama administration on Wednesday stepped up efforts to show that it is toughening offshore drilling oversight by announcing that it will require oil and gas companies to submit more information about their projects before proceeding.

The administration made the announcement through Bob Abbey, the newly installed head of the beleaguered Minerals Management Service, as it seeks to highlight reforms in the wake of the BP oil spill.

Among the new requirements: exploration and development plans previously approved using a waiver from full environmental studies — called a “categorical exclusion" — must now resubmit their plans.

Vice President Joe Biden said oil giant BP has “done the best they could” to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Biden — in an appearance on the “Charlie Rose” show to be broadcast Wednesday night — also said that he’s in “constant” contact with President Barack Obama about the disaster.

“When I sit down and talk to him [Obama] about this, which is constant ... he talks with such empathy about this is not just merely an economic catastrophe. This is potentially going to ruin a way of life. This is a unique bayou culture that's down there,” Biden said.

Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is urging President Barack Obama to deploy more military resources in the effort to combat the worsening Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Nelson, in a letter to Obama Tuesday, cites the weekend failure of BP’s “top kill” to cap its gushing well and the prospect of the spreading oil harming Florida’s estuaries and beaches.

BP is attempting to fit another containment dome over the leak, but the well may not be cut off until August when relief wells are completed.

“While the Coast Guard, under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the National Guard both are involved, it is my belief that the broader assets and command and control capability of the Department of Defense could better translate your directives into prompt, effective action,” the letter states.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has abruptly "changed the appetite" for oil drilling in the waters that surround his state.

Crist told The Hill this week that he has toured the oil spill "eight or nine times," and signed several state-of-emergency declarations in response to the spill. He toured the spill again with President Barack Obama on Friday, and said the close-up views have convinced him not to support any oil drilling in the Gulf.

“For anybody, regardless of what your party is, if this doesn’t give you pause, nothing would,” he said. “I think it’s really changed the appetite, if you will, as it relates to oil drilling certainly in the Gulf of Mexico. The concern after going out to Louisiana the other day and seeing the oil on the shore, I mean, it's just devastating to see. I know that energy independence is incredibly important to all of us, but I think we have to evaluate how we do it, and try to have a greater focus on renewable [energy] and greener types of technology — you know, solar, wind, nuclear, natural gas — the kinds of things that would be less impactful as it relates to, you know, a potentially devastating effect on our environment."

Obama will vow Wednesday to personally corral Senate votes for a sweeping climate change and energy bill.

The oil slick is just miles from Florida's coast and has made landfall in parts of Alabama and Mississippi.

The League of Conservation Voters is trying to tether Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) to “big oil” – and BP in particular – in a final push on behalf of Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D), whom the group is supporting in Tuesday’s Democratic primary runoff.

The group on Wednesday launched a new TV ad that highlights Lincoln’s receipt of oil-and-gas industry political donations and her vote for 2006 legislation that expanded drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Maybe she got that money because she helped Bush and Cheney give oil companies $14 billion in tax breaks,” the ad states. “Or because she voted to allow risky offshore drilling for BP and their friends.”

Louisiana Rep. Melancon (D) on Wednesday called for the firing of Tony Hayward in the wake of the massive oil spill.

Justice Department’s criminal probe of the oil spill raises tricky questions

As we reported Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder revealed that the Justice Department has launched both civil and criminal probes of the oil spill.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the inquiry presents thorny legal and political issues for the Obama administration.

“A decision not to prosecute — or to settle out of court — could expose the White House to more criticism from the Gulf region and others calling for a hard line on BP,” the Journal reports.

“'Any criminal fraud case could also be complicated by the notion that it appears the government signed off on many of the moves that may have led to the spill,' said Noah Hall, a law professor at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit who has worked on behalf of environmental groups in the past.”