They want oil companies to regain the time they lost to moratorium
A group of Gulf Coast lawmakers Wednesday proposed legislation that would extend offshore drilling leases for a year to give oil companies back the time they lost from the federal government's hold on virtually all offshore permitting since last year's BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
View full sizeThis oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was photographed in April 2009. "We are no longer living under a moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico, but we are still struggling to live under a permitorium," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who joined Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, in announcing the bill introduction during a Capitol Hill news conference. "There has only been one lease issued -- not even for new production -- in almost a year in the deepwater. ... Giving back this time is simply a matter of fairness."
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said the offshore regulatory agency has notified operators that it will review requests for extensions "on a lease-by-lease basis."
"We will not issue blanket suspensions," she said.
Landrieu said that given that the BOEMRE says it doesn't have the staff to enforce the heightened regulations developed since last year's BP oil spill it would seem "common sense" to give the automatic extensions -- thereby freeing the agency from the need to review each permit extension request.
While Landrieu and other Louisiana lawmakers have complained that BOEMRE has been much too slow in resuming Gulf of Mexico drilling, especially in the face of rising gas prices since the recent unrest in the Middle East and Northern Africa, the administration maintains that the delays were needed because until recently the industry didn't have a detailed oil response plan ready in case of another disaster like last April BP oil spill.
The Hutchison-Landrieu legislation is also sponsored by Sen. David Vitter, R-La.
Bruce Alpert can be reached at balpert@timespicayune.com or 202.383.7861.