Scenarios: BP spill to prompt many new regulations

REQUIRE REMOTE SHUT-OFFS

The United States might follow the lead of Brazil and Norway and require offshore platforms to have remote-control shutoff triggers. Workers escaping a burning rig could send signals underwater to shut valves on a leaking pipe on the sea floor. Mandating $500,000 acoustic valves for the rigs could save millions of dollars a day in fighting an oil spill.

MOVE DRILLING FARTHER FROM SHORE

Moving future drilling further offshore, say 75 miles, could help protect coastlines from spills and ease opposition to drilling.

Senators on Tuesday proposed such a 75-mile limit as part of a climate-change bill that they plan to introduce. Originally, the climate bill would have included the less-restrictive 50-mile limit.

IMPROVE TECHNOLOGY TO HOLD BACK OIL

Floating booms are often the first line of defense in controlling oil spills and protecting beaches. They work best with spills in the calmer waters of a port, but are too short to hold back oil and often become tangled when waves pick up out in the Gulf. There could be a call for federal and industry research into developing booms that work better in deeper water with big waves.

LIABILITY OF OIL FIRMS MAY INCREASE

In response to the BP oil spill, legislation has been introduced in the Senate that would raise an oil company's economic liability in a spill from $75 million to $10 billion.