Posted on 01/03/2011 4:16:27 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
In a move that could signal a long-awaited return to business-as-usual in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration announced Monday that it would allow 13 companies to resume deepwater oil and gas drilling suspended when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded last spring.
The Administration had instituted a moratorium on deepwater drilling after BP's Macondo well blew out on April 20, killing 11 workers on the rig and spewing nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the ocean, in the country's worst offshore oil disaster. The Interior Department lifted the moratorium in mid-October. Yet because drilling permits have been issued at a far slower pace than before the disaster, the Administration has faced criticism from the oil industry, Gulf Coast politicians and citizens that a de facto moratorium persists.
So far, two companies have received new permits after the lifting of the moratorium, but for activities they could have done under the suspension any way, an administration official explained. The oil and gas industry and its supporters have been waiting for permits to be issued for actual exploration and development, and Monday's decision makes way for such work.
"We are taking into account the special circumstances of those companies whose operations were interrupted by the moratorium and ensuring that they are able to resume previously-approved activities," said Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Michael R. Bromwich. "For those companies that were in the midst of operations at the time of the deepwater suspensions, today's notification is a significant step toward resuming their permitted activity."
The decision Monday allows the companies, including Chevron, Shell, Hess and Kerr-McGee. to return to 16 wells they were drilling in early 2010, nearly all of them exploratory wells.....
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
“Obama administration announced Monday that it would allow “
“allow” You can bet your a** this was a direct quote from the Whitehouse. How aristocratically arrogant these bass turds be. You know its a show. What they will really do is ok the drilling but make compliance a nightmare. Then blame it on big oil.
Thing to do. Start drilling anyway and when the feds file suit, try to get a judge to put a stay on the regs. Let the new congress tie the EPA’s hands.
PR stunt. it will accomplish nothing but giving him cover in 2012.
I was against US energy independence before I was not really for it..
Why thank you o mighty dictator
There’s a drudge headline that US Oil production will decline 13% in 2011.
PR stunt. Obastard is only pretending to “allow” drilling. I can guarantee that every step of the application process will be slow walked to draw it out for months if not years.
Did you ever think in America, we would need permission from our dear leader to drill for oil.
People are looking at it the wrong way, I think the headline is sick.
Owning the House will allow investigations between the Sierra Thugs, unions and the WH in this fiasco.
Pray for the Tea Party Congress
And if our side does not seize the message and get it out,(Obama administration policies contribute to high gas prices) then the Obama presstitutes surely will spin any improvement in their favor.
It's real. I'm in Houston in the energy industry. The Obama Admin knows they can't keep killing jobs and become increasingly dependent upon oil imports.
They’re just exploratory wells, not producing wells. No new oil is being reached.
So you can only drill in flyover country? It’s okay for us to live with that dirty oil but not the east/west coast. /s. Fine, let’s keep our dirty oil and they can keep the illegals.
There's more than one way to go Galt.
The story glosses over the overreaching if not lawbreaking by Zero and his fellow enemies of America. Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
The WSJ headline is: Drilling Ban is Off, But Work is Stalled. Domestic production will fall 13% instead of increasing by 6% as predicted. Complying with new regulations onerous. Economic damage multiplies throughout the region. Restoring to previous levels not expected until 2012.
This is a PR stunt running for cover. I just read minutes of a meeting with BOEMRE and it doesn’t look like easing to me, just more of the same we have seen since spring... moratorium, permitatorium and confusion.
This is the expropriation of billions of dollars in share holder value by regulatory dictate.
These dumbo piss ants are running for cover from $4 to $5 gasoline and looking for someone else to blame.
read in AM
DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW!
Ping!
The whole U.S. will get hurt with higher gasoline prices.
And this BP spill was no disaster, the disaster part was like global warming a hoax meant to destroy capitalism. And the EPA is using the global warming hoax to shut down the economy in 2011.
Too little, too late.
"Ever since the moratorium was formally lifted, drilling and permits continue to get tied up in bureaucratic red tape. The administration’s hollow announcements and slow actions are driving offshore energy assets overseas while many Louisianians are still wondering when they’ll be able to get back to work."
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