In his first week as president, Obama rescinded a Bush executive order that permitted drilling on the continental shelf.

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They've removed their cases to federal court, citing the OPA as well as a federal law that governs oil spills on the outer continental shelf .

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Under procedures laid out in Annex II of the treaty, the petitioning party submits geologic data and makes its case for expansion before a LOST body called the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which then makes its determination as to the claim.

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The Department of Interior which controls permits for drilling on federal onshore lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is also exerting a big influence upon fracking operations.

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And as if on cue, the industry was, on Tuesday, proudly showing off a BYT, weighing 40 tonnes, and designed to staunch major spills on the seabed of the UK Continental Shelf.

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Ithaca recently purchased a 14% stake in MacCulloch, which lies 250km (155 miles) north east of Aberdeen on the UK Continental Shelf.

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