The US Department of the Interior has not made its new oil and gas regulations sufficiently clear for drilling permits and exploration plans to be approved within a reasonable time period, an American Petroleum Institute official charged. “Not enough is happening to assure that the oil and gas development this country needs will occur,” said Erik Milito, group director of API’s upstream and industry operations. “The regulatory process is more time consuming than ever.”What we hear from the administration in speeches is completely opposite of what we are seeing. There seems to be a shift in rhetoric, but not a shift in policy.
DOI’s Bureau of Offshore Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement has extended some Gulf of Mexico leases, where operations were suspended following the Macondo well accident and spill, and issued some permits, while its Bureau of Land Management quit implementing the so-called wild lands order, Milito told reporters during a teleconference. But producers remain confused, he said.
“We have seen dozen of exploration plans get recycled 4-5 times. It should require only one submission,” he maintained. “They’re getting sent back after the government has determined they are already complete. At some levels, it has put some procedures in place so that some permits can be approved. But a lot more are sitting on desks at DOI.”
In the past, the administration made it clear that it favored renewable energy over oil, gas, and coal, even to the point of bankrupting coal-fuel utilities.
With WTI oil rising in price to $110 not long ago, I truly thought the administration was being honest with Americans when it suggested that the country needed to get back to drilling. I truly thought the administration was concerned about $5.00 gasoline going into a national election.
With the permitorium continuing, I firmly believe the administration is "slow-rolling" the nation on the issue of domestic oil exploration and production.
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