Texas Insider Report: Washington D.C. U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison Texas senior senator today cautioned against putting American energy jobs at risk through new layers of bureaucracy recommended in the National Oil Spill Commissions report on the BP oil spill.
While working to fix the problems that led to the BP tragedy we must pursue a clear effective and streamlined process to put energy employees back to work."
Senator Hutchison expressed her appreciation for the Oil Spill Commissions work to learn from the April 20 2010 incident and resulting oil spill and acknowledged the need to fix the problems identified but stressed that further delays to permit applications would result in another de facto moratorium on safe drilling.
I appreciate the work of the Commission to learn the lessons of this accident but we cannot give the administration an excuse to continue to drag its feet in issuing new deepwater permits while putting thousands of jobs at risk. We saw how process delays for shallow water drilling permits resulted in a de facto moratorium and sent American jobs overseas" said Sen. Hutchison.
The Gulf Coast has already suffered economic hardship and devastating job losses in the aftermath of the oil spill and bureaucratic barriers to production. While working to fix the problems that led to the BP tragedy we must pursue a clear effective and streamlined process to put energy employees back to work" Hutchison said.
The administration and Congress must work toward job saving and creating policies that will strengthen the economy. Increasing the regulatory burdens on producers is counterproductive and I will work to ease heavy-handed action against our nations energy producers."
The National Oil Spill Commission released its final report on the BP oil spill on Tuesday including recommended changes to energy policy. The Commission suggested extending the time the Department of Interior has to review and approve specific offshore drilling proposals from 30 days to 60 days.
It also called for other federal agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to play a more active role in the review process which could further delay approval without a clear benefit.
In December Sen. Hutchison successfully fought an attempt by the Obama Administration to insert a policy change in the continuing budget resolution
(C.R.) that would have allowed the Department of the Interior (DOI) to extend the current review period for offshore exploration plans from 30 to 90 days.
In a letter sent by Sen. Hutchison and several of her Senate colleagues to Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) the lawmakers stressed the negative impact extending the permit review process would have on energy jobs.
