Drilling backers, critics raise eyebrows at lifting of drilling ban

Reaction to the administration’s lifting of the deepwater oil-and-gas
 drilling moratorium about six weeks ahead of schedule raised eyebrows 
among both defenders and critics of drilling alike.



Liberal groups reacted harshly.



Public Citizen’s Tyson Slocum called it “misguided and reckless.”



“This is pure politics of the most cynical kind. It is all about the 
election season, not safety and environmental concerns,” Greenpeace
USA Executive Director Phil Radford said. “The White House wants us to 
believe that they have solved all the dangers of offshore drilling and
 we can return to business as usual. It is a false promise, if not a
 big lie.”


Natural Resources Defense Council Executive Director Peter Lehner
 said lifting the drilling suspension was premature. “Multiple panels 
are still investigating the accident, and we need to have their
 answers — and their solutions implemented — before we can confidently
 move forward with deepwater drilling,” Lehner said. “Their reports are 
expected soon and will provide the industry and government with 
confidence and knowledge that will benefit everyone in the long run.”



Drilling backers, meanwhile, viewed the announcement with a skeptical 
eye and predicted the ban’s lifting will not speed up drilling
 projects any time soon.



“Despite this announcement, a de-facto moratorium still exists on all
 offshore exploration, including shallow-water projects in Alaska that 
were never covered by the original moratorium, in the form of 
regulatory uncertainty and a slow-down of the issuance of required
 drilling permits,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member 
Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said.



Murkowski and other drilling backers point to the slowdown on shallow-water drilling despite the fact that there is no official suspension
 of those projects, as well as two interim final rules regarding 
deepwater drilling rules the Interior Department filed last week, and
 other safety and oversight requirements that are forthcoming.



“The reality of the Obama administration’s action today is that they 
are lifting the moratorium on offshore exploration in name only,” said 
Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 
Institute for 21st Century Energy. She called the administration’s 
actions “too little, too late to prevent significant economic harm to 
the Gulf regions and to America’s energy security.”



Elgie Holstein, a former senior energy and economic official in the
 Clinton administration and adviser to President Obama’s 2008 campaign
 and transition teams, said industry’s fears are largely unfounded. 

“I don’t think it’s the government’s intention to have a de facto 
ban,” he told The Hill. “What’s happening and what will happen for
 some period of time is a getting-to-know-you period.”



Holstein, who is currently with the Environmental Defense Fund, added, “Things will steadily approve over time for both the industry
 and the regulators as they get to know how to work with one another in 
these new safety standards.”



Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said time will tell whether drilling 
projects will commence in a timely fashion, and that the Gulf economy 
will improve. Until then, she is not lifting her hold on Jacob Lew’s 
nomination to head the White House Office of Management and Budget.



House Natural Resources Committee ranking member Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) said
 Tuesday’s announcement raised more questioned than answers. 

“Today’s announcement isn’t time for applause, it’s time to demand
 real, straight answers from this administration — especially when 
thousands of American jobs and our nation’s energy security are still 
in limbo,” Hastings said. “The question remains, will the Obama
 administration actually allow drilling work to resume or is this just
 pre-election rhetoric?”



California Rep. Darrell Issa — ranking Republican on the House
 Oversight and Government Reform Committee — said the lifting of the 
moratorium “is good news.” But he said administration officials need 
to further “expedite and streamline the regulatory process to ensure
 the highest possible standard of safety while avoiding a de-facto
 moratorium-by-regulatory-delay and bureaucratic bottleneck that would
 be just as damaging to the Gulf economy as a blanket moratorium,” he
 said.



Rep. Edward Markey (D-Calif.) — chairman of a key energy and environment
 subcommittee as well as the House Energy Independence and Global 
Warming Select Committee — said the drilling suspension was necessary 
to “bring those companies back to reality.”



The new safety rules the Interior Department has already issued 
“will help ensure that if oil companies are going to drill ultra-deep,
 they are doing so in a manner that is ultra-safe,” he said.