Admits To Slow Rolling the Oil Industry -- Promises To Speed Things Up By Yearend -- Update on the Permitorium

Updates

August 6, 2011: folks write me (anonymously) suggesting that I am confused about the permitorium. I generally don't post comments that don't have value-added information, so most of those comments are not posted. But for those who still think there is no permitorium in the Gulf, a US senator says he will hold up Senate nominations until/unless the leases due to expire this year in the Gulf are extended. Yup, the permitorium continues.

US Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) announced that he would block Rebecca Wodder’s nomination to be Assistant US Interior Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks unless the US Department of the Interior extends hundreds of Gulf of Mexico leases due to expire this year.

Vitter said that oil and gas exploration in the gulf has fallen dramatically since US Interior Sec. Ken Salazar imposed a temporary deepwater drilling moratorium following the Macondo well blowout and subsequent crude oil spill in 2010.

Original Post

Link here.

I guess it was true. The administration was slow-rolling the oil industry on granting leases or permits or whatever the case might be. The story changes from day-to-day, and depending on who is talking.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar says things will speed up by year end (2011) implying that the oil industry was correct in saying that for the past year talk of faster permitting has been just that: talk.

The US Bureau of Land Management will accelerate a lease sale within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska so that it will take place before the end of 2011, with subsequent lease sales annually, US Sec. of the Interior Ken Salazar said.

Salazar’s announcement came as the US House Natural Resources Committee’s Energy and Minerals Subcommittee held a hearing on a bill to improve access to oil and gas resources within the reserve. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the full committee’s chairman and HR 2150’s sponsor, said requiring annual NPR-A lease sales was a good step, but it would not be enough if other federal agencies block and delay permits for the necessary roads, bridges, and pipelines to get the oil and gas out of the reserve.

In his written testimony, Joe Balash, deputy commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, said Alaska considers leasing within NPR-A a logical first step in expanding oil and gas development on federally controlled state land. He said in his written testimony that possibly the most ambitious feature of Hastings’ bill is its call for approved rights-of-way for roads, pipelines, and other surface infrastructure to ensure all leases are within 25 miles of the state’s approved route plans.

But then this:

But Deputy BLM Director Mike Pool said Interior was concerned about several of HR 2150’s provisions, including a requirement that the secretary consult with the US Department of Transportation on all surface disturbance instead of only major roads and pipelines; a requirement that the secretary ensure that other federal permitting agencies meet the bill’s deadlines; and an implication that all requested permits must be issued regardless of a proposed action’s potential impacts or the availability of alternatives.

Sounds like "we" have a long way to go. I guess it's easier to release oil from the strategic petroleum reserve than to issue new permits.  

And then there's this story (safety is important, but the bureaucratic process will slow everything down):

The government is poised to propose new rules that aim to boost the safety of offshore drilling and tighten standards for emergency equipment guarding subsea wells, a top regulator said Wednesday.

The looming rules will build on already broad changes that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement has imposed since last year's Gulf oil spill, agency director Michael Bromwich said in a speech before the World National Oil Companies Congress in London.

For instance, regulators are planning to add teeth to a workplace safety rule they imposed last October requiring oil and gas companies to identify risks at every stage of offshore exploration and take steps to minimize human errors and operational hazards. That rule for the first time is forcing companies in U.S. waters to have safety and environmental management systems like those required in the North Sea.  

Yup, the permitorium continues.