should be a company decision reflecting the will of the shareholders and not the government’s responsibility to evaluate.
Typically, the company decision is based upon some data.
One of the ways we get more energy production in the US is by more private investment.
The oil/gas industry requires a lot of data back for the permits. Rather than the few giants gathering and keeping on the geological data, it is made publicly available and helps spur investment by smaller companies who could never afford to due that massive research, or get access to the data.
It is one of the reasons why the US production rate versus our reserves are so much higher than most of the major producers around the world.