Vitter predicts drilling ban to end soon, fears ‘de facto’ freeze will linger for ‘many months’

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) predicts the federal freeze on deepwater oil-and-gas drilling could end within two weeks, but fears the Interior Department will block development even after restrictions are lifted.

“The even bigger question is are we going to have a de facto moratorium on an ongoing basis for many more months to come,” Vitter said Saturday on Fox News.

“I am predicting that the formal moratorium will be lifted in October, maybe within two weeks, but again the big issue to me is not that. It is whether the lay of the land the day after is really any different, or do we have a de-facto moratorium that is 90 percent as bad. Unfortunately I think so far the evidence is pointing to the latter,” he added.

The Obama administration is under immense political pressure to lift or ease the ban before its scheduled Nov. 30 expiration.

But critics of the ban have also taken aim at comments last month by Michael Bromwich – Interior’s top offshore drilling regulator – who said it remains uncertain when projects will resume as companies seek to show compliance with expanded safety mandates.

Bromwich on Friday gave Interior Secretary Ken Salazar a report that provides recommendations on the controversial drilling ban, moving the administration closer to easing of the moratorium. Interior also rolled out beefed up safety standards last week.

Vitter and other Gulf Coast lawmakers also say a slowdown in permitting for shallow-water projects is harming the region.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is blocking Senate confirmation of the Jacob Lew, the White House nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, until the ban is lifted or scaled back.

Vitter also took aim at a recent Commerce Department report that found job losses from the deepwater freeze – which was put in place four months ago in response to the BP oil spill – have been less than feared.

Commerce estimates that roughly 8,000 to 12,000 jobs will be temporarily lost, but Vitter on Saturday called the analysis “full of holes.”

“There are all sorts of things about that report that, I think, way understate the situation,” he said.  “Dozens of companies thinking about leaving the Gulf now on an ongoing basis.”

Critics of the drilling ban call it needlessly broad and say it is inflicting major pain on the Gulf Coast and its oil-tethered economy. But administration officials say they will not allow deepwater development to resume until they can ensure projects will operate safely.