Gulf coast senators to Salazar: Let new shallow water drilling proceed

Senators from several Gulf Coast states and Alaska are pressuring Interior Secretary Ken Salazar not to apply the administration’s moratoria on new offshore drilling permits to projects in shallow waters.

The Interior Department has stopped issuing permits until at least late May. That’s when it’s slated to complete a 30-day offshore safety review that the White House ordered after the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig and subsequent spill.

But in a letter to Salazar Friday, 10 senators write that shallow water drilling doesn’t present the same risks as deepwater projects. The damaged BP well currently leaking into the Gulf of Mexico is 5,000 feet below the surface.

“[W]e  are very concerned that the moratorium is far too broad and unnecessarily covers shallow water drilling activities that have operated without major incident for over 50 years,” states the letter.

It’s signed by Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), David Vitter (R-La.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska).

They say that continuing the moratorium on shallow water projects could cost the Gulf Coast upwards of 5,000 jobs and substantial lost revenue.

The senators’ letter argues that shallow water wells have greatly different physical characteristics than deepwater projects.

“For example, shallow water facilities typically employ ‘blow-out preventers’ (BOPs) above the surface of the water.  These surface BOPs are accessible for constant inspection, maintenance and repair, and, in emergencies, can be controlled either remotely or by physical manipulation,” they write.

The blowout preventer on BP’s deepwater well – which is supposed to be a failsafe device to prevent uncontrolled spills – did not deploy properly.

The letter also complains that the moratorium is endangering planned exploratory drilling off Alaska’s coast this summer. Shell Oil hopes to begin drilling in Arctic waters off the state’s northern coast, but those plans are under fire from environmentalists and some Democrats.