OFFSHORE DRILLING: Crist to call special session to seek constitutional ban on Fla. drilling (05/11/2010)
Alex Kaplun, E&E reporter
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said today he intends to call for a special legislative session so state lawmakers will take up a bill that would ban drilling in Florida’s coastal waters.
The session would address fallout from a ruptured oil well spewing thousands of gallons of crude a day into the Gulf of Mexico from the site of the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig 50 miles off Louisiana. Crist told reporters today that the session was all but a done deal.
“I think it’s important that we go ahead and have a special session,” Crist told reporters, according to the St. Petersburg Times. “I’m encouraged that the Legislature is of a mind to do so as well.”
The session, whose start date has not been announced, will focus on two main items — a state constitutional ban on drilling in Florida waters and new tax incentives for companies to develop alternative energy technologies.
The drilling ban would affect waters between 3 and 10 miles off the Florida coast and have no direct impact on federal drilling policy. Florida law already limits offshore drilling in state waters, but in the wake of the spill, a number of state politicians have called for a more permanent ban.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who has led the charge to halt new offshore drilling in federal waters, today also sent a letter to Crist urging him to hold the special session.
“Oil and gas drilling in these waters currently is not allowed under Florida law,” Nelson wrote. “But the scope of the still-unfolding crisis in the Gulf of Mexico should prompt all lawmakers to re-examine Big Oil’s public relations and safety claims, and to call for a more permanent halt on the industry’s push for drilling in state waters.”
A constitutional amendment would require the approval by both houses of the Florida Legislature as well as the approval of at least 60 percent of voters in November.
Crist said today that he believed the constitutional ban could clear both hurdles. “There’s no stronger place to put it. The Constitution is the bedrock of our democracy,” Crist told the St. Petersburg Times.
The special session is likely to have heavy political implications, as Crist is currently locked in three-way race for a U.S. Senate seat. The spill began on the heels of Crist’s announcement that he would leave the Republican Party to run for the Senate as an independent.
—————————————————————–
OFFSHORE DRILLING: Salazar outlines MMS reorganization plan (05/11/2010)
Noelle Straub, E&E reporter
Saying the federal agency that oversees offshore drilling must avoid conflicts of interest especially in the wake of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today proposed a safety and environmental office separate from the leasing and royalty division.
The creation of a new safety and environmental enforcement entity will require the restructuring of the Minerals Management Service. The job of ensuring that oil companies follow the law should be independent from “revenue raising” activities, he said.
Currently, MMS collects billions of dollars in royalties each year. “It seems to me that separate and apart from that function, we ought to have the safety and environmental enforcement functions so there is no conflict, real or perceived, with respect to those functions,” Salazar said.
The new office will have about 300 employees and place inspectors that now work elsewhere into a centralized office, Salazar said. It may include creating an assistant secretary for environment and safety, he said. The details of the proposal remain to be fleshed out, he said, while many Interior officials are focused on the situation in the Gulf.
“What I don’t want to do in the reorganization is to take their eyes off the ball,” he said.
While Salazar will be able to carry out parts of the plan on his own through secretarial order, there are areas that may need congressional approval, he said. A legislative package is being worked on at the White House Office of Management and Budget and will be sent to Capitol Hill, he said. The “exact contours” of the legislation will be worked out by Congress, he said.
Senate Interior Appropriations Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said her subcommittee will hold a hearing on the proposal, which she said must receive approval from congressional funders. There has been no hearing date set, she said.
“I’ve always looked at MMS as a relatively weak agency with not much by way of enforcement teeth,” Feinstein said. “I think if separation develops a set of enforcement teeth and independence — now we know what is out there, in terms of catastrophe, and we have to respond and see that it never, ever happens again.”
House Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) said his panel will delve into the proposal when Salazar testifies before his committee at the end of this month. “Given this disaster in the Gulf, one has to ask whether leasing and safety policing are like oil and water and simply do not mix,” he said in a statement.
As for a timetable, Salazar said, “We will move forward with all deliberate haste to get this done quickly.”
The change means there will be additional and more robust inspections of rigs and drilling activities, he said. Promising the new agency will have independence, Salazar said it will take the industry’s input when developing new safety rules, “but that doesn’t mean the oil and gas companies essentially should be in the driver’s seats of any of these rules and regulations.”
Other regulatory reforms
Salazar also said he is submitting a proposal to Congress to increase to 90 days or more the amount of time MMS has to complete an environmental review of exploration plans. Under current law, the agency must review and make decisions about exploration plans within 30 days of when companies submit them.
“There is no way an agency can do an adequate environmental assessment within 30 days,” Salazar said.
The change will supplement the current environmental reviews that are already conducted at earlier stages in the leasing process, Salazar said, noting that there are environmental reviews at the planning and lease sale stages.
Salazar also announced he will be submitting a request to Congress for $29 million to strengthen and increase offshore inspections and enforcement and to study policy changes or actions that may be needed in the wake of the spill. Other changes are in the works, he added.
“These reforms will not be the last we will undertake,” Salazar said.
The reforms are meant to give Interior officials greater tools, independence and authority to enforce regulations, Salazar said. MMS was created administratively in the 1980s, but Salazar favors “organic legislation” that would establish the agency via an act of Congress and require that the head of MMS be confirmed by the Senate, which is not the case now.
Noting that he has spoken in favor of reforming the agency since early last year, Salazar said the fact Congress has not approved comprehensive climate and energy legislation is “probably what has impeded” the reforms from being enacted yet. But the ongoing Gulf disaster may spark a new effort on the issue, he said.
Salazar also announced that the National Academy of Engineering will conduct an independent technical investigation into the oil spill. That will be in addition to a joint investigation being carried out by MMS and the Coast Guard, a 30-day review by Interior of offshore safety, and a new safety oversight board to handle broader questions about management, oversight and safety.
Reactions
House Natural Resources Committee ranking member Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) said the proposal to split up MMS merits consideration. But Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said it is too early for decisions.
“I think we need a little time to figure it out,” Dorgan said. “We should think through what we want to do with the right regulatory framework, but I think it is too early to make judgments about it.”
Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) said he needs to study the proposal, but added, “It certainly makes sense to me, though, at first blush, that you would separate out the regulatory responsibilities from the royalty collection responsibilities.”
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) praised the move, saying it “will provide the additional oversight of offshore oil and gas activities our country needs.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) also expressed support, saying he thinks “it’s a good thing.” The Union of Concerned Scientists also favors the proposal, saying it is “long overdue.”
But Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter said the proposed split “is insufficient to address the long-standing lack of regulatory oversight by the agency of the oil industry.”
“After the immediate danger of operating rigs is addressed comprehensively, it is time for a complete overhaul of the regulatory framework for overseeing the industry,” Hauter said in a statement. “Oil companies are going deeper into the depths of the ocean, and the risks to workers and the environment have dramatically increased. We need more than window dressing to make sure that another devastating spill doesn’t occur.”
Reporters Robin Bravender, Allison Winter, Kate Ling and Alex Kaplun contributed.