http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/7166809.html

Aug. 22, 2010, 8:41PM
For the past two decades, the deep waters of the world’s oceans have been the so-called “final frontier” for the oil and gas industry as they raced to drill deeper, faster and farther out for resources and profits.

Now, with 11 men killed and an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled, it’s clear that some operators were taking too many gambles in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Those days of big risks are over.

In the four months since the Deepwater Horizon exploded, the Obama administration has launched the most aggressive, advanced and swift offshore drilling reforms ever implemented.

The goal is simple: to raise the bar on safety and environmental protections so that deepwater drilling can safely resume.

To achieve this objective, we must eliminate the gap between the technology that allows oil and gas companies to tap reserves beneath 5,000 feet of water and the laws, regulations and tools needed to ensure that energy companies are operating safely and responsibly on the outer continental shelf.

We are aggressively pursuing reform in four fundamental areas.

First, we are raising the bar on industry’s safety practices and equipment.

The Department of the Interior has implemented tough new requirements for inspecting and testing blowout preventers, casing and cementing wells, and drilling plans. The CEOs of drilling companies must now – for the first time ever – put their signature on the line to certify that their rigs comply with the law.

Second, we are requiring companies that want to drill to prove they are prepared to deal with catastrophic blowouts and oil spills like the Deepwater Horizon.

BP’s failed attempts to contain its blowout – from the “containment dome” to the “top hat” – exposed its lack of preparedness for a disaster. The previous administration exempted operators from addressing worst-case scenarios in their exploration plans, but we have closed that loophole. The oil and gas industry’s inadequate preparedness is also one of the reasons the current deepwater drilling pause is so important: We need to put effective strategies in place for containing blowouts and responding to major spills.

Third, we are continuing our campaign to put science back in its rightful place in decisions about offshore oil and gas development. In March – before the BP oil spill – I canceled the previous administration’s plans to hold four oil and gas lease sales in the Arctic Ocean because we need to develop more information about the risks and impacts of drilling in that sensitive landscape.

In the Gulf of Mexico, we must proceed with similar caution. We have launched a new environmental analysis of the Gulf that will help guide future development decisions and Interior’s agencies will be required to complete more robust environmental review of proposed deepwater drilling projects.

Finally, it is essential that we build a strong and independent agency with the resources, tools and authority it needs to hold offshore operators accountable to the law.

We are dividing the conflicting missions of the agency once known as the Minerals Management Service because the people who are leasing offshore areas for development should be separate from those responsible for policing offshore energy operations.

The former Inspector General for the Department of Justice, Michael Bromwich, is spearheading these reforms and has already implemented a new internal investigations and review unit that will root out problems within the regulatory agency and target companies that aim to game the system.

In addition, under Bromwich, we are substantially increasing the number of inspectors for offshore oil and gas drilling rigs and platforms. For too long, the agency that regulates offshore drilling has been short on resources.

Together, the reforms we are implementing are strong, fair and risk-based. In shallow waters – where the risks are different than deep waters – drillers can continue drilling if they meet the new standards and play by the rules. Production throughout the Gulf of Mexico has also safely continued throughout the BP oil spill.

However, in the deep-water areas, where the Deepwater Horizon blowout occurred, it is necessary and appropriate to require operators to demonstrate improved safety, blowout containment and spill response practices before allowing drilling to continue.

To be sure, both the deep-water drilling moratorium and the reforms we are implementing have drawn fire from the same powerful interests who have, over the last two decades, systematically fought regulation and oversight of offshore drilling operations.

But make no mistake: Our country needs these reforms and we will deliver them. We will raise the bar for deep-water drilling. We will hold the industry accountable. And we will build the strongest and safest offshore energy development program in the world. Salazar is secretary of the Interior.

Special thanks to Richard Charter