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Commission Openly Questions Drilling Moratorium

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-09/obama-oil-spill-panel-asks-whether-drilling-ban-should-include-exceptions.html

›By Jim Efstathiou Jr.
Aug 9, 2010 2:56 PM ET

The presidential commission investigating BP Plc’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill has asked the Obama administration if a temporary ban on deep-water drilling should be lifted for certain rigs.

The commission wrote to Michael Bromwich, director of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, on Aug. 6, seeking information on the moratorium, according to a letter released today. President Barack Obama suspended drilling in waters deeper than 500 feet though Nov. 30.

The moratorium has been criticized by the oil industry and Gulf Coast lawmakers such as Senator Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, who told the commission last month that the ban would lead to rising unemployment in the region. Bromwich last week said drilling might resume sooner than the end of November.

“We are particularly interested in whether individual rigs, or categories of rigs, subject to the moratorium are sufficiently safe to allow the moratorium to be lifted,” the commission said in the letter.

The suspension will remain in place until companies can show they are able to prevent and contain spills such as BP’s, which spewed an estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude after an April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has said. Salazar told the House Oversight Committee on July 22 that he would consider modifications based on new information.

Bromwich last week began a series of public hearings on the moratorium with industry officials, academic experts and environmentalists.

Cut Short

“We may be able to cut short the moratorium,” Bromwich told reporters Aug. 3 at a briefing in Washington.

The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill and Offshore Drilling, which held its first hearing in New Orleans July 12, has asked Bromwich for information on how the agency is evaluating rig safety, according to the letter. Bob Graham, co-chairman of the commission, had said the panel wouldn’t have the resources to evaluate the safety of the rigs or the ability of the oil industry to respond to another spill.

The panel might use its “bully pulpit” to ensure that the Obama administration knew the region’s concerns about the drilling ban, Graham said.‹