JMO - Re the recent announcment - better than reinstituting the OSC ban? Yes.
Compared to the Bush adm leasing plans, its a step backward.
Practically speaking Obama reinstitutes the OCS ban for:
NJ north to Canada,
125 miles offshore FL and AL,
the entire west coast,
and Bristol Bay, Alaska.
Theoretically, opens up (eventually - after 2012 except MAYBE for offshore VA where there's very strong bipartisan pro-drilling support) leasing:
offshore VA, NC, SC,
and the Chukchi & Beaufort seas, Alaska.
(Course, none of this affects the now open leasing areas offshore TX, LA, and MS where there's never been a leasing ban. )
I'm suspicious that all or virtually all actual leasing in new areas is likely to be delayed beyond 2012. If Obama won re-election, I'd expect this to be reversed. Seems obvious to me, additional OCS leasing is something the Obama adm really doesn't want and they're giving up the minimum they think they can get away with politically. They want to frame themselves to the voters as being sorta, kinda pro-domestic development (in a 'middle of the road' way) but they're really not. They're just concerned about being bashed if they do what they really want and say 'no drilling, no way no how'. Thats my opinion.
Tne only place leasing in new areas MIGHT occur in Obama's presidency is offshore VA where his own party is rebelling against the DELAY policy.
Several articles follow:
Virginia Pushes Drilling Bill
3/29/2010
Oil Daily
The majority of Virginia's congressional delegation has introduced legislation that would require the US Interior Department to hold a lease sale off the state's coast in 2011 as planned.
The legislation -- co-sponsored by eight of Virginia's 11 House members -- would also allocate 50% of leasing revenues from offshore sales to Virginia and 50% to the federal government.
“Every day, folks across Virginia and the nation are confronted with the rising cost of energy, from the cost at the pump to soaring electric bills. I believe that Virginia should have every tool available to access its energy supplies," said chief sponsor Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a Republican.
The Bush administration had penciled in a lease sale offshore Virginia as part of the current five-year program that runs from 2007 to 2012 (OD Mar.23,p2).
However, the Obama administration said it may take more time to gather public comment and conduct environmental reviews before deciding whether it will proceed with the sale according to the plans drawn up by the Bush-era Interior Department.
The legislation has been referred to the House Natural Resources Committee.
US government set to unveil offshore drilling plan
30 March, 2010
Reuters News
* President Obama to talk about energy security Wednesday
* Interior's Salazar has targeted end of March for plan
* Plan to show whether, when will allow Virginia drilling
* Virginia lease area may hold 130 million barrels of oil
By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - The Obama administration is expected to announce by Wednesday its updated plan for oil and natural gas drilling in U.S. waters, including whether to allow exploration for the first time along the U.S. East Coast.
The plan could pave the way for a significant new domestic source of energy, helping to reduce U.S. dependence on oil imports and boost supplies of natural gas used to displace coal in power plants as the country works to reduce emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases.
Last month, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he wanted to release the updated drilling plan by the end of March. [ID:nN19101512] Two industry sources said on Monday President Barack Obama was expected to give a speech about energy security on Wednesday, which could include his views on expansion of offshore drilling.
The Interior Department and White House declined comment on Monday on whether Obama would speak to the issue in a speech slated for mid-morning on Wednesday at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.
The administration has been weighing the pros and cons of offshore drilling since it took office and put the brakes on a Bush-era proposal that called for drilling along the East Coast and off the coast of California.
For more than 20 years, drilling was banned in most offshore areas of the United States outside the western Gulf of Mexico because of concerns spills could harm the environment.
Congress allowed the prohibition to expire in 2008 and former President George W. Bush lifted a drilling moratorium that year.
Environmental groups and some lawmakers continue to raise concerns about the impact increased drilling would have on coastal areas.
But Obama, who wants Congress to move a stalled climate change bill, has sought to reach out to Republicans by signaling he is open to allowing offshore drilling, providing coastlines are protected. [ID:nN09117653] [ID:nN27159393]
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the U.S. Atlantic coast waters may hold 37 trillion cubic feet of gas and nearly 4 billion barrels of oil, while the Pacific Coast has 10.5 bln barrels of oil and 18 trillion cubic feet of gas.
To put that in context, the United States imports about 2 billion barrels of oil a year from OPEC nations and is expected to import 2.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from all sources this year, according to the Energy Department.
The administration's plan is expected to spell out whether and when drilling will be allowed in 3 million acres off the Virginia coast.
The Bush administration had proposed leasing the Virginia tracts to energy companies and said the government would receive bids for the leases in November 2011.
However, a senior Interior official told an oil industry conference in January that drilling off Virginia's coast would definitely be delayed past the original 2011 leasing date. [ID:nN26102214]
The proposed Virginia lease area, located about 50 miles from shore, may hold 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The possible delay in drilling off Virginia's coast has been criticized by the state's new governor, Republican Bob McDonnell, and two U.S. senators eager for the state to tap into the jobs and royalties that come with exploration.
A spokeswoman for McDonnell said his office has not been told the updated drilling plan would be announced on Wednesday.
OBAMA TO OPEN OFFSHORE AREAS TO OIL DRILLING
By JOHN M. BRODER
31 March, 2010
The New York Times
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday.
The proposal -- a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations -- would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.
Under the plan, the coastline from New Jersey northward would remain closed to all oil and gas activity. So would the Pacific Coast, from Mexico to the Canadian border.
The environmentally sensitive Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska would be protected and no drilling would be allowed under the plan, officials said. But large tracts in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska -- nearly 130 million acres -- would be eligible for exploration and drilling after extensive studies.
The proposal is to be announced by President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Wednesday, but administration officials agreed to preview the details on the condition that they not be identified.
The proposal is intended to reduce dependence on oil imports, generate revenue from the sale of offshore leases and help win political support for comprehensive energy and climate legislation.
But while Mr. Obama has staked out middle ground on other environmental matters -- supporting nuclear power, for example -- the sheer breadth of the offshore drilling decision will take some of his supporters aback. And it is no sure thing that it will win support for a climate bill from undecided senators close to the oil industry, like Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, or Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana.
The Senate is expected to take up a climate bill in the next few weeks -- the last chance to enact such legislation before midterm election concerns take over. Mr. Obama and his allies in the Senate have already made significant concessions on coal and nuclear power to try to win votes from Republicans and moderate Democrats. The new plan now grants one of the biggest items on the oil industry's wish list -- access to vast areas of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling.
But even as Mr. Obama curries favors with pro-drilling interests, he risks a backlash from some coastal governors, senators and environmental advocates, who say that the relatively small amounts of oil to be gained in the offshore areas are not worth the environmental risks.
The Obama administration's plan adopts some drilling proposals floated by President George W. Bush near the end of his tenure, including opening much of the Atlantic and Arctic Coasts. Those proposals were challenged in court on environmental grounds and set aside by President Obama shortly after he took office.
Unlike the Bush plan, however, Mr. Obama's proposal would put Bristol Bay, home to major Alaskan commercial fisheries and populations of endangered whales, off limits to oil rigs.
Actual drilling in much of the newly opened areas, if it takes place, would not begin for years.
Mr. Obama said several times during his presidential campaign that he supported expanded offshore drilling. He noted in his State of the Union address in January that weaning the country from imported oil would require 'tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.'
Perhaps in anticipation of controversy, the new policy has been closely held within the administration. White House and Interior Department officials began briefing members of Congress and local officials in affected states late Tuesday.
It is not known how much potential fuel lies in the areas opened to exploration, although according to Interior Department estimates there could be as much as a three-year supply of recoverable oil and more than two years' worth of natural gas, at current rates of consumption. But those estimates are based on seismic data that is, in some cases, more than 30 years old.
The first lease sale off the coast of Virginia could occur as early as next year in a triangular tract 50 miles off the coast that had already been approved for development but was held up by a court challenge and additional Interior Department review, officials said.
But as a result of the Obama decision, the Interior Department will spend several years conducting geologic and environmental studies along the rest of the southern and central Atlantic Seaboard. If a tract is deemed suitable for development, it is listed for sale in a competitive bidding system. The next lease sales -- if any are authorized by the Interior Department -- would not be held before 2012.
The eastern Gulf of Mexico tract that would be offered for lease is adjacent to an area that already contains thousands of wells and hundreds of drilling platforms. The eastern Gulf area is believed to contain as much as 3.5 billion barrels of oil and 17 trillion cubic feet of gas, the richest single tract that would be open to drilling under the Obama plan.
Drilling there has been strongly opposed by officials from both political parties in Alabama and Florida who fear damage to coastlines, fisheries, popular beaches and wildlife. Interior Department officials said no wells would be allowed within 125 miles of the Florida and Alabama coasts, making them invisible from shore.
The Interior Department and the Pentagon are discussing possible restrictions on oil and gas operations in some areas off Virginia and Florida, home to some of the nation's biggest Navy and Air Force facilities. States are also likely to claim rights to the revenues from oil and gas deposits within 3 to 12 miles of shore and to some portion of lease proceeds, officials said.
Mr. Salazar developed the offshore drilling plan after conducting four public meetings over the past year in Alaska, California, Louisiana and New Jersey. The Interior Department received more than 500,000 public comments on the issue.
Mr. Salazar has said that he hoped to rebalance the nation's oil and gas policy to find a middle ground between the 'drill here drill now' advocacy of many oil industry advocates and the preservationist impulse to block oil exploration beneath virtually all public lands and waters.
He has called the offshore drilling plan a new chapter in the nation's search for a comprehensive energy policy that can open new areas to oil and gas development 'in the right way and in the right places,' according to an aide.
In many of the newly opened areas, drilling would begin only after the completion of geologic studies, environmental impact statements, court challenges and public lease sales. Much of the oil and gas may not be recoverable at current prices and may be prohibitively expensive even if oil prices spike as they did in the summer of 2008.
At the Wednesday event, Mr. Obama is also expected to announce two other initiatives to reduce oil imports, an agreement between the Pentagon and the Agriculture Department to use more biofuels in military vehicles and the purchase of thousands of hybrid vehicles for the federal motor pool.
MAP: Open for Exploration (A14)
Interior Department to decide on Alaska outer continental shelf 5-year lease program
By DAN JOLING
31 March, 2010
Associated Press Newswires
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The Interior Department is ready to announce its analysis and review of defects in a program covering lease sales off much of Alaska's coastline, including Arctic waters, according to a legal filing Tuesday.
Just one lease sale has been conducted under the 2007-2012 five-year Outer Continental Shelf lease program -- the February 2008 Chukchi Sea sale that earned the federal government $2.7 billion. Additional sales were scheduled for the Chukchi and three other Alaska areas.
A federal appeals court ruled nearly a year ago that the Bush-era Interior Department did not properly study the environmental impact of expanding oil and gas drilling off the Alaska coast before authorizing its five-year program.
Attorney Peter Van Tuyn, representing the Native Village of Point Hope and two environmental groups, said Tuesday that judges concluded the Bush administration environmental review was "irrational." The department equated the sensitivity of water far offshore with coastal areas, he said.
That was a significant error regarding Arctic waters, where the environment and wildlife are driven by the ice edge that moves north and south with the seasons, Van Tuyn said.
Sea ice is a key element in the Beaufort Sea on Alaska's north coast, the Chukchi Sea on the state's northwest coast, and the Bering Sea, including Bristol Bay, home to the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery.
All three seas are on the migratory paths of endangered whales. The Beaufort and Chukchi seas are home to Alaska's two polar bear populations. Indigenous communities rely on marine life for subsistence hunting and fishing, and some fear industrial activity -- from ship traffic to noise to spills -- will permanently alter their homes.
The appeals court ordered the Interior Department to analyze the areas to determine environmental risks and potential damage before moving ahead with the five-year leasing program. The status report Tuesday said the department was ready to announce the results of its analysis and review, and would communicate them "very soon."
Elected officials in Alaska, which takes in about 90 percent of its general fund revenue from the oil industry, continue to push for lease sales that will lead to exploration and extraction.
Gov. Sean Parnell has aggressively challenged endangered species listings that could delay drilling.
U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, wrote Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Monday reminding him that drilling would create thousands of jobs and increase domestic energy production.
"I strongly urge you to ensure the balance you strike in Alaska continues a strong leasing program in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas," Begich wrote.
He also noted that successful development of offshore oil and gas reserves is key to keeping the trans-Alaska pipeline carrying oil and important for a proposed multibillion natural gas pipeline to the Lower 48 states.
Michael LeVine, an attorney for the marine conservation group Oceana, said the Bush administration rushed forward with lease proposals without considering the effects of industrial activity. Federal regulators lack baseline data in the Arctic Ocean to even know if industrialization would cause changes.
"We know that Americans want energy and they want a healthy environment," he said. "There's a way to do it right."
Salazar could remove areas from the lease program, such as Bristol Bay, which is scheduled for a 2011 sale. He could negate the 2008 Chukchi sale, where Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc. paid $2.1 billion for leases and hopes to drill exploration wells this year. Salazar in December announced that the Minerals Management Service had conditionally approved Shell's exploratory drilling plan, despite the cloud hanging over the sale.
A decision by Salazar will be preliminary. It will open a 30-day comment period for the public to weigh in.
From last week:
Delay, Baby, Delay? Why Is Obama Ignoring the Will of the People On Offshore Drilling?
By Steve Everley
- FOXNews.com
Apparently there is no need for “tough decisions” on offshore drilling, as President Obama has claimed. The administration can simply delay the decision, ignoring a clear majority of Americans who support offshore drilling in the process.
Another day, another delay.
The Department of Interior is on a bureaucratic quest to ignore the public and stop any development of American energy. The latest example is Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement this week that the next offshore drilling program will not begin until 2012.
The decision, made without voter approval and against the wishes of a clear majority of Americans, upends the existing lease plan that was set to begin this year, a plan that was crafted directly in response to public outcry in 2008 over record high gas prices.
Ironically, it was that very energy crisis that forced then-candidate Barack Obama’s hand in August 2008 when, as he campaigned tirelessly for the presidency, he declared support for offshore drilling. The left may have protested, but the decision was the right one.
What a difference a year and a half makes.
Of course, broken promises are a recurring trend for President Obama. We remember his promise not to hire lobbyists and his promise to conduct open and transparent health care negotiations. The administration even made promises about openness and accountability in accepting and assessing public comments on offshore drilling.
Still more broken promises. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, American Solutions discovered that the Department of Interior is deliberately hiding something from the American people that we already know -- the public supports offshore drilling by a 2-1 margin.
If the president tells the American people in his State of the Union address that he is ready to make “tough decisions” on offshore drilling, then why is his administration delaying responsible American energy development while lamenting publicly that the United States is too dependent on foreign oil? Foot-dragging only makes Americans more reliant on dictators like Hugo Chavez and Saudi kings for its energy.
Despite the rhetoric of support, this administration opposes offshore drilling. Consider the following:
• Within a month of taking office, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar delayed the offshore leasing process by extending the public comment period for an additional six months.
• Just days before he delayed the leasing process, SALAZAR also voided several existing onshore drilling leases in Utah delaying the development of American energy.
• Last September SALAZAR announced that he could delay offshore drilling until 2012, or longer, depending on Interior's own internal analysis, which is at his discretion.
• Days after the end of the public comment period, Interior promised that it would take “several weeks” to review and analyze the 530,000 comments received. That analysis was delayed, as there has been no public announcement from Interior.
• Earlier this year SALAZAR announced a new layer of bureaucratic regulations for energy companies, which will further delay any kind of responsible energy development.
• Last month SALAZAR announced that offshore drilling in Virginia could be delayed until at least 2012.
• Senate Democrats wrote to SALAZAR last month that his delays on offshore drilling were preventing economic recovery and job creation in Virginia.
• Through a FOIA request, American Solutions uncovered a deliberate delay within Interior regarding release of the breakdown of public comments on offshore leasing, which they have known since October were 2-1 in favor of drilling.
• And just recently, the Minerals Management Service, which oversees offshore drilling, told the Justice Department that it would miss its own deadline for a court-ordered environmental assessment of drilling in Alaska. Without that analysis, all further drilling will be delayed in the Bering, Beaufort, and Chukchi seas.
Delay, delay, delay. Apparently there is no need for “tough decisions” on offshore drilling, as President Obama claimed. The administration can simply delay the decision, ignoring a clear majority of Americans who support offshore drilling in the process.
A recent study shows that existing restrictions on oil and gas drilling in America will cost the American economy $2.36 trillion over the next twenty years. Another study shows that offshore drilling can create 1.2 million jobs per year.
Simply put, every day that the Obama administration delays American energy development is another day of delaying economic recovery.
It’s time for the administration to listen to the American people and stop delaying offshore drilling.
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