Washington to announce new coastal drilling plans

US Offshore Drilling

The Obama administration are set to announce two separate new plans this month for drilling in federal waters that would cover the years through mid-2017, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (pictured) said today.

For some time now the Obama administration has been put under increasing pressure by oil and gas companies to issue the long-heralded 2007-2012 blueprint, which was invalidated by a federal appeals court last year.

Now, Salazar has told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that he was preparing two plans to govern leases on the outer continental shelf - one with court-mandated changes that would apply through June 30, 2012, and another completely new blueprint for leasing from July 1, 2012, until 2017.

Scrapping of a Bush-era proposal

When invalidating the blueprint last year the federal appeal court said that the Bush administration had not conducted an adequate review of the environmental impact in the Beaufort, Bering and Chukchi seas off the Alaskan coast. Salazar's decision to move forward with sequential schedules essentially scraps a Bush-era proposal for 2010 through 2015 that would have allowed leases on Pacific and Atlantic waters where drilling has been off limits for decades.

As part of a broad plan to promote renewable energy development and combat climate change, President Obama has repeatedly touted the possibility of expanding offshore drilling this year. But some in the industry have been left confused over his stance on coastal exploration due to an apparent willingness to limit drilling US shores, whilst promoting it in foreign waters - like Brazil.

However a new plan for the outer continental shelf could for the first time detail exactly where the administration envisions any new offshore production.

Delays in crucial decision making

As detailed by Chron.com the Interior Department was forced to retool the current outer continental shelf schedule of leases through 2012 after a federal appeals court last April ruled that the Bush administration had not done a sufficient environmental review of expanded drilling off Alaska.

Salazar was quick to blame to delays in crucial offshore decision making on the failings of the previous administration, but insists that the new plans will make things much easier.

The revised plan could also shed light on whether the Obama administration will continue with a planned lease sale off Virginia, despite questions about the extent of seismic research that has been conducted in the Atlantic.

The administration's budget proposal includes:

* A new $4-per-acre fee on non-producing oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters
* A new inspection fee for onshore oil and gas drilling that the administration estimates would bring in $10 million in the 2011 fiscal year that begins October 1
* Raising existing inspection fees for offshore oil and gas drilling to raise an estimated $20 million in fiscal 2011
* Continuing a 1-year-old $6,500 fee for processing drilling permits, expected to bring in $45.5 million in the next fiscal year

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Daniel Jones

Daniel is a Politics and Philosophy graduate from Cardiff University where he also worked as a section editor on the award winning student newspaper. After university he joined an IT support company where he was a B2B online writer. He loves anything to do with sport and joined GDS in July 2009.

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