Bromwich: Decision on drilling ban ‘imminent’



The Interior Department’s top offshore energy regulator said Tuesday
that a decision on lifting the federal freeze on deepwater oil-and-gas
drilling is “imminent.”



White House spokesman Robert Gibbs
echoed Tuesday that the ban would be
lifted “very soon,” and the New York Times reported
that the administration will announce plans to lift the ban today.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has scheduled a 1 p.m. conference call
with the media to make an announcement on the deepwater drilling ban.

{mosads}The
ban is scheduled to last through late November, but federal
officials have hinted that new safety standards put in place could
allow its removal or relaxation sooner.

But Interior’s Michael
Bromwich cautioned that even once the ban is removed, it will take weeks
— it’s unclear how many — before drilling projects may resume.

He noted the need for drillers to comply with recently issued rules, for Interior to conduct inspections and other steps.

 “We will do this as expeditiously as we possibly can, but we will do it responsibly,” he said at a briefing sponsored by the energy news service Platts. “I don’t know exactly how long it will take.”



Bromwich directs Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.

Bromwich told reporters that while there is no way to eliminate risks, the beefed up requirements will allow safer development.

“We do believe that the new safety enhancements that we have put in place . . . raise the bar significantly enough that we can, and the American public should, feel safe that at a point in the not-too-distant future deepwater drilling will be able to resume in a safe and environmentally appropriate way,” he said.

The moratorium imposed after the BP oil spill began has prompted criticism from many Republicans and Gulf Coast lawmakers of both parties, who call it economically harmful and too broad.



Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is blocking Senate confirmation of Jacob Lew — the White House pick to run the Office of Management and Budget — until the ban is lifted or scaled back.

This story was updated at 11:39 a.m. and 12:20 p.m.

-Darren Goode contributed