can anyone tell me what this means?

Interior allows some suspended drilling to resume

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration said Monday it will allow 13 companies to resume deepwater drilling without any additional environmental scrutiny, just months after saying it would require strict reviews for new drilling in the wake of the BP oil spill.

The government said it was not breaking its promise to require environmental reviews because the 13 companies — which include Chevron USA Inc. and Shell Offshore Inc. — had already started drilling the wells without detailed environmental studies.

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later on the story says they'll have to follow new rules, but i don't see why they get grandfathered out of doing detailed reviews.

the typical excuse is jobs, but isn't that why the macondo drilling wasn't halted before the blowout?