“Political people don’t pay attention to individual permits. They don’t interfere with permitting for political purposes,” Ned Farquhar, deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management in the US Department of the Interior, told energy professionals May 5 at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.
In a panel discussion of risk management on the last day of OTC, he said the General Accounting Office for the first time has included Interior’s oil and gas program in its high risk category among government agencies that may not meet their goals. [What would the other high risk categories be? Lunar landings? War? Brain surgery?]
Farquhar said “so much of the process” that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement is “trying to inculcate” into the oil and gas industry is “thinking about safety.” He said, “Risks can be reduced by sensible regulation.” [Meanwhile the permitorium continues.]
He also said, “Everyone [in the oil and gas industry] has got to commit to a certain level of safety.”Actually, everyone in the oil and gas industry is committed to safety. Everyone in the administration needs to understand that deepwater drilling is inherently risky. As is going to war in Iraqistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Libystan.
If only the text could be converted to energy. Smile. This post may or may not remain up.
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