NEW ORLEANS -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says deep-water drilling may now resume for operators who clear a new, higher bar for safety and environmental protection.
"The truth is there will always be risks associated with deep-water drilling," said Salazar. "But we have now reached a point where we have significantly in my view reduced those risks."
The Obama Administration imposed a six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling shortly after the massive BP oil spill off the Louisiana coast.
Government and industry experts have been working on stricter safety regulations. Operators must now adopt tough new standards for well-design, cementing and equipment, including blowout preventers.
They must also develop comprehensive plans to manage risk and improve workplace safety.
"We will not approve permits without vital supplemental information that is required by the rules or make decisions before the appropriate safeguards are in place," said Michael Bromwich who heads up Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Regulation and Enforcement, the new government agency in charge of offshore drilling.
Bromwich said the industry's speed in adapting the new rules will determine how quickly new permits are approved.
"It will clearly not be tomorrow and it won't be next week," he said. "How far into the future that will go, I don't think anyone can say."
That worries Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise.
"While we don't have a moratorium anymore, we still have a 'permitorium' because they're not issuing permits and they won't even commit to a timeline for issuing permits and ultimately that's what's going to get the industry back going," said Scalise, R-Louisiana.
Scalise said so far the moratorium has cost Louisiana about 12,000 jobs, with thousands of additional jobs in jeopardy.
"Allow those people who are playing by the rules, people who didn't make the mistakes that BP made, if they're playing by the rules they should be issued a permit so they can go back to work," said Scalise. "Don't shut down an entire industry because of BP's failures."
"Together, we are building the gold standard for offshore oil and gas regulation with the goal of ensuring that our nation's energy is produced as safely and environmentally responsible as possible," said Salazar.
Ocean Energy Management Director Bromwich said he expects to issue the first new permits before the end of the year.
