Landrieu Again Calls For Obama Admin. To Issue Drilling Permits
WASHINGTON – United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today encouraged the Obama Administration to reconsider its push to levy new taxes on the nation’s oil and gas producers.
During today’s Energy Committee hearing on the Oil Spill Commission report, Sen. Landrieu called on the Obama Administration to issue deepwater drilling permits.
“Nine months after this accident, deep water drilling is still virtually shut down,” Sen. Landrieu said in today’s hearing. “There were 200 to 300 people working on each one of those rigs, not counting the onshore support activities and suppliers all over the country. So while the moratorium has been lifted, I just want to make a point: no permits for deep water are being issued. Let’s not make the excuse of waiting for more reports to stop doing what we know we can do safely now, even if it’s a one on one review of each drilling operation. Get these people back to work and then continue to vigorously work on the liability issues and the safety issues and the research issues and the investment and the environment.”
Since early June, the federal government has issued 28 new shallow water permits for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, but no new deepwater permits. In addition, five deepwater platforms operating in the Gulf have left for other parts of the world, costing Louisiana and the Gulf Coast nearly 5,000 jobs.
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