Key U.S. House member: ostpone leasing pending USGC oil rig probe
Washington - April 26, 2010
A key member of the U.S. House of Representatives has called on the Obama administration to postpone further oil and gas lease sales until a cause is found for the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster.
Representative Bart Stupak, in remarks aired Sunday on Platts Energy Week television program, said it's critical for rig safety issues to be addressed before any new leases are awarded. The new weekly half-hour television program, Platts Energy Week, focuses on the discussion and debate of U.S. energy policy.
"I certainly think you should postpone any more leases," said Stupak, a Michigan Democrat. "Let's see what happened here and then how do we make sure this doesn't happen again."
The next lease sale -- Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 215 -- is scheduled for August 18 in New Orleans.
"There's no one yet who can say 'here's what happened, here's how to solve it,'" Stupak added. "So before we start putting out other leases...I think we better know what went on here first before you do further oil and gas drilling outside in the Outer Continental Shelf."
The April 20 explosion onboard the Transocean-owned Deepwater Horizon and its sinking two days later has resulted in a massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that now threatens wildlife and the environment along the Gulf Coast. Estimates indicate crude oil is leaking from BP's Macondo well at a rate of 5,000 barrels per day (b/d).
Stupak is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee -- which is investigating the rig disaster -- and is chairman of its subcommittee on oversight. Stupak and Representative Henry Waxman, the committee's chairman, have called executives from BP America, Transocean and Halliburton to a hearing on May 12 as part of the probe.
Stupak said the investigation will focus heavily on drilling safety measures and assessing the risk from such activities.
"There was an apparent lack of evaluation of the risk involved and what is the safety plan if something did happen," he said. "Did you properly coordinate with the proper agencies? There should be a plan here. We're concerned that that plan was lacking."
Stupak suggested that offshore technology used elsewhere in the world employs better redundancies to prevent spills, citing a remote switching mechanism used in Norway and Brazil that can shut down flowing wells in case of an accident.
"Why aren't we using those systems, especially as we're getting (in) deeper and deeper (waters)?," he asked.
Still, the congressman said he does not believe the Obama administration needs to back track from its recently announced proposal to open new areas of the U.S. Gulf and parts of the Atlantic seaboard to oil and gas drilling.
"You could still do it, but as we go deeper and the challenges are greater, then we should have backups to make sure that if something happens, then we have a way to shut off the flow of oil," he said.
VIRGINIA SENATOR STILL WANTS NEW DRILLING
Republican Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, interviewed separately on Platts Energy Week, said it would be "shortsighted" to drop Obama's plan for expanded drilling, which would include waters off Warner's state. He noted there are already multiple checks in place before drilling can begin anywhere.
"...(B)ecause there was an accident in the Gulf, to suddenly say that means we're no longer going to look at any further domestic offshore oil and gas drilling, I think would be shortsighted," he said.
Also appearing on the weekly Platts-WUSA energy policy program were Rayola Dougher, senior economic advisor for the American Petroleum Institute, and Erich Picah, president of the environmental group Friends of the Earth.
Dougher rejected calls made by some in the wake of the rig disaster that drilling in the U.S. Gulf should be curtailed or leasing postponed.
"Right now, we have 3,500 platforms operating safely in the Gulf of Mexico bringing millions of gallons of fuel to the United States each and every day," she said. "...This would be a huge mistake to stop these operations."
Picah wants further leasing halted. "I think we should be stopping oil and gas leasing right now," he said. "We know from history that this industry leaks oil and damages the environment...this is not a safe industry."
Platts Energy Week host Bill Loveless, long-time chief editor of Platts’ Inside Energy, brings nearly three decades of energy journalism experience to the anchor chair.
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