Vitter lifts hold on key Interior nominee

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said Wednesday he will lift a hold he placed on the nomination of a key Interior Department official earlier this year over deepwater drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico.

In February, Vitter put a hold on the nomination of Dan Ashe to head Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service until the department issued 15 deepwater drilling permits.

Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) announced Wednesday that it issued the 15th deepwater permit in the Gulf since last year’s massive oil spill. The permit, which went to BHP Billiton Petroleum, is for a new well to be drilled about 120 miles off the Louisiana coast.

“I said I would lift it when we got to 15 permits,” Vitter said Wednesday in a statement. “We finally reached that mark today, and I'm lifting my hold.”

But Vitter stressed that there is more work to be done to encourage expanded production in the Gulf.

“But let me be clear: we have a lot farther to go. This administration has been forced to issue permits but is doing so at an anemic pace — 40 percent of pre-BP oil spill levels, and only two new exploration plans have been approved. We must do better by American energy consumers and workers,” he said.

“I will continue to use every tool available — absolutely every tool — to put Americans back to work in the Gulf.”

Vitter came under fire from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last month for threatening to block a bill to raise Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's salary to a level comparable with other Cabinet officials until the Interior Department ramped up the pace of deepwater drilling permit approvals.

Salazar called the move "attempted coercion."