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Calls to end deep US Gulf drill ban

06/18/2010

UP 20100618
Calls to end deep US Gulf drill ban
BLAKE WRIGHT
18 June 2010
Upstream
Politicians unite to urge President Obama to rethink moratorium
 
A GROUP of US Gulf coast legislators have sent a letter to US President Barack Obama urging him to lift the deep-water drilling ban currently in place in light of the Deepwater Horizon accident.
 
Louisiana Congressman Charlie Melancon was joined in the letter by fellow Louisiana Congressmen Rodney Alexander and Charles Boustany - each of them fearing that a prolonged suspension of drilling will result in the loss of thousands of local jobs and furthering the damage to local economies.
 
"The moratorium has imperiled thousands of related oil-service jobs in Louisiana and many Gulf coast states," the letter read. "We have a working coast and our people are clamoring to get back to work in deep-water and shallow-water drilling jobs that have sustained our state for decades." Melancon was due to meet Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to discuss options for ending the moratorium, while still addressing the worker safety and environmental issues raised by the Macondo disaster.
 
In his meeting with Obama last week, Melancon asked him directly to speed up the federal review of offshore rigs so the moratorium could end before it further harmed Louisiana's economy.
 
Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter took things a bit further by joining with Representative Pete Olson of Texas to introduce legislation in both houses of Congress to lift the Obama Administration's six-month offshore drilling moratorium.
 
"The Gulf coast economy is already suffering from the oil spill, and is being further crushed by this painful and unnecessary moratorium," said Vitter. "Industry experts indicate losses of millions of dollars per day and have explored moving operations overseas. "It would take a minimum of five to 10 years to get production back to normal operations should these rigs leave. We don't shut down the entire airline industry while the NTSB (National Transportation & Safety Board) investigates a plane crash and we shouldn't do the equivalent to the energy industry." Meanwhile, Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu sent her own letter to Obama asking for dedicated funds to restore the state's fragile coastline. The Democrat has proposed legislation that would accelerate revenue sharing for coastal states. Under the 2006 energy legislation, the acceleration was scheduled for 2017. Under the new Landrieu-penned bill, it would take immediate effect, giving Louisiana and other coastal states 37.5% of revenues collected from new offshore leases.
 
"We must have an immediate and dedicated stream of revenue for the restoration of the coast and establishment of a new model for governance, planning and applied science," the letter read.
 
The Landrieu legislation would generate about $100 million per year through to 2017.