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Hastings plans one-two punch on offshore drilling
He said his first bill will be aimed at speeding up development in Gulf of Mexico regions where leasing and drilling is already allowed.
The Interior Department in recent weeks issued the first two deepwater drilling permits for the type of the project that was halted after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf last April, touching off the massive BP spill.
But Hastings and other Republicans – and some Democrats – want Interior to greatly speed up issuance of deepwater permits, and permits for shallow water projects that slowed in the wake of the spill even though shallow Gulf waters were not covered by the post-spill moratorium.
The eastern Gulf of Mexico remains largely off-limits under a 2006 law, and Hastings hinted that his upcoming Gulf drilling bill will not seek remove those limits, although he didn't say it outright.
“Let me just say that it [the bill] is more for what is in play right now,” he told reporters in the Capitol.
Hastings said a second bill would address offshore oil-and-gas drilling outside the Gulf of Mexico.
Coastal leasing bans lapsed in 2008. The White House laid out plans in March of 2010 to sell leases off the coasts of mid-Atlantic and southeastern states in the 2012-2017 period, but walked away from those plans in December, angering drilling advocates.
The Obama administration has never planned any oil-and-gas leasing off the Pacific Coast, but Hastings’ hinted that his planned bill could seek to spur development there as well.
“I have been critical, as you know, of both the East and West Coast [leasing restrictions],” he said.
Hastings said he’s planning separate legislation to spur expanded onshore drilling. House Republican leaders are planning to move separate, discrete pieces of energy legislation rather than a single comprehensive bill.
