Interior's big guns gather in Houston for drilling review

The Interior Department is making a political show of force to demonstrate its focus on allowing a resumption of deepwater oil drilling with enhanced safeguards.



As E2 reported Thursday (see here and here), Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is in Houston on Friday to review enhanced systems that the oil industry has developed to swiftly contain runaway deepwater wells.

Interior announced Friday that Deputy Secretary David Hayes and Michael Bromwich, who heads Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, are also in Houston to review the containment systems.

They’re holding a press conference Friday afternoon. The event comes amid heavy pressure on the Obama administration to resume permitting for deepwater projects that was halted after the BP oil spill began.

Interior, before issuing permits, is requiring drillers to show that they’re complying with beefed-up safety standards and have access to systems that can rapidly respond to blowouts.