Why don’t companies like Planktos have to do environmental impact studies before they experiment?

Question

with their research projects? To the intelligent person this is a double standard.

Answer 1

It would be easier to answer if you explained what Planktos does.

An EIS is usually required if a project used government funding or if there is a danger of damage to a population of an imperilled species or danger to some irreplacable natural feature. In other words, it is not a routine matter. I'd be doing a lot more work if it were.