Former Senator Gary Hart is exempt and may resume his offshore drilling activities.
| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Politix |
| Salazar says limits needed on offshore drilling |
| 2009-01-28 |
| Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday the expansion of offshore oil drilling should be worked out with Congress as part of a broad energy blueprint and not independent action by his department. In an interview with The Associated Press, Salazar indicated the drilling plan the Bush administration left on his desk likely will be scrapped. It would open the entire Atlantic and Pacific coasts for drilling. Salazar declined to single out any waters considered automatically off limits to oil exploration. "There are places that are appropriate for exploration and development and there are places that are not," Salazar said in an interview in his spacious and historic office, with a fire roaring in the fireplace beneath a full-length painting of George Washington. Salazar, who resigned as Colorado senator to join President Barack Obama's Cabinet, said he wants to work closely with Congress on "a plan that makes sense" for offshore oil and gas development, but that any expansion of drilling should be part of a comprehensive energy plan. Congress last year failed to renew the long-standing moratorium on oil and gas exploration across 85 percent of the nation's Outer Continental Shelf, leaving all waters potentially open to drilling. Congressional Republicans and energy lobbyists have argued against even a partial reimposition by Congress of an offshore drilling ban. Four days before leaving office, officials in the Bush administration issued a draft of a five-year drilling plan that calls for energy leases to be made available in both the Atlantic and Pacific waters, including vast areas that until recently had been off limits for a quarter century. But Salazar indicated that plan is all but dead. "It seems to me the appropriate place to address the OCS and issues like royalty reform would be in the context of an energy bill," said Salazar, referring to Outer Continental Shelf development and an overhaul of the way his department collects royalties from drilling in federal waters. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 The plan is gonna be scuttled. The picture at the link makes me go "Hmmmm..." |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2009-01-28 16:47 |
| #9 And the most famous one... Upon seeing the photos in the National Enquirer of Senator Ted Kennedy on a boat while in a compromising position with a woman not his wife, Senator Heflin is said to have remarked, "Well, I see that Senator Kennedy has changed his position on offshore drilling." |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-01-28 15:04 |
| #8 Oh yes, the good ship Monkey Business making a port call. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-28 14:56 |
| #7 Offshore drilling will only be banned in areas where water is present. Former Senator Gary Hart is exempt and may resume his offshore drilling activities. |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2009-01-28 14:25 |
| #6 These guys are stimulating the wrong economy. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2009-01-28 14:03 |
| #5 Want to make some money in the market? Invest in oil futures. By 2010, I predict it will be back to $4/gal even with the economy in the tank. All the OPEC need to hear is how we are going to go back to banning off-shore drilling and oil shale development. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2009-01-28 10:36 |
| #4 Nimble: just as long as you're willing to pay people to be on standby just in case you need drilling rigs. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-01-28 10:28 |
| #3 Not drilling is also the ultimate SPR. Just sayin'. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-01-28 08:00 |
| #2 If they drill for oil we get to keep driving. These people don't want us to drive. Drilling might also affect lucrative speaking engagements in the Gulf when they leave office, too. Just ask Bill. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-01-28 07:24 |
| #1 There are places that are appropriate for exploration and development and there are places that are not .... We've seen this movie before: according to this Congress drilling is appropriate in places where there is little oil and inappropriate everywhere else. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2009-01-28 00:46 |