Senator tells Platts Energy Week: Future of US offshore drilling depends on lessons learned in Gulf
Washington - April 10, 2010
The Obama administration should wait to find out how the Gulf of Mexico oil leak occurred and draw lessons from the accident before deciding on the future of U.S. offshore drilling, Democratic Senator Tom Carper of Delaware told Platts Energy Week on Sunday. The new weekly half-hour television program, Platts Energy Week, focuses on the discussion and debate of U.S. energy policy.
"We have to find out how this accident occurred... what lessons we can learn from this accident and what we can learn about how we reacted to this accident," Carper told program host Bill Loveless.
"We have to decide if this is something we put to bed [expanded offshore drilling] for 40 years," Carper said. "We'll have to decide if this is an idea we will want to put away for a long period of time."
Carper did not blame President Barack Obama for supporting offshore leasing in former moratorium areas in an effort to win Republican votes for climate legislation, but said he realized that in order to get Republican support he had to agree "to some kind of steps towards offshore development of oil and gas" and to be willing to use clean coal.
"It was a grand strategy to develop bipartisan support. I thought it was a smart move," Carper said.
He added if the Gulf spill damages the environment, the fishing industry and tourism, the responsible parties, not the taxpayers, have an obligation to cover the costs. "They need to pony up that money."
Carper also said that if the Senate could not come to an agreement on climate legislation, "at the very least" it should adopt legislation to tighten controls on emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury from coal fired power plants - all known health hazards.
"It's time to address it. I think the time is right," said Carper, who had sponsored such legislation in past Congresses, adding there is bipartisan support for such a measure.
"This is something Democrats and Republicans can work on together."
Carper also expressed optimism the Senate could enact legislation capping carbon dioxide emissions, despite the fact that Senator Lindsay Graham, the only Republican working with the Democrats on the bill, had walked away from the issue.
"People have a way of walking away from bills, but have a way of walking back," Carper said. "We have too much at stake [not to act]."
Environmental agency questions Interior Secretary job performance
Sunday’s program also featured an interview with Senior Counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity Bill Snape. He told Bill Loveless that in the wake of the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico the Obama administration should give serious consideration to whether U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar "is fit" for his job.
"It is clear the agency was rubber stamping BP's [exploration] plans," and did not disclose "the severe chances that this type of blow out could occur," Snape said. The department failed to "adequately review the operation in the first place and actually approved a safety device that didn't work."
BP has acknowledged that three safety devices all failed, but the reason for the failures is yet to be determined.
Snape said the department had issued a "categorical exclusion" to the BP project. Categorical exclusions are issued when the project's activities are deemed to have no significant environmental impact, enabling the agency to exempt it from more stringent requirements.
The agency continues to issue such exclusions and it is a "serious problem interior has not yet addressed," Snape said.
Snape also said the administration hired Salazar to "clean up the Minerals Management Service," which runs the offshore program and was plagued by scandals during the George W. Bush administration, but instead "has handed the [Obama] administration a huge mess I'm not sure it can recover from."
Platts Energy Week host Bill Loveless, long-time chief editor of Platts’ Inside Energy, brings nearly three decades of energy journalism experience to the anchor chair.
Platts Energy Week airs weekly at 8 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday mornings on W*USA TV in Washington, D.C. and is available online at www.plattsenergyweektv.com shortly thereafter. The program follows an interview format featuring guests from the Obama administration, Congress, government agencies, think tanks, the investment community and the energy industry.
Program information, special news features, advertising contacts and more can be found at plattsenergyweektv.com. Guest booking and related inquiries should be addressed to plattsenergyweektv@platts.com.
Platts Energy Week is produced by Platts, the world’s leading source of information and intelligence on energy and related commodities and a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies [NYSE: MHP], and W*USA-TV, the Washington, D.C., CBS affiliate and flagship television station of Gannett Co. [NYSE: GCI]. While the program is U.S. focused and produced in Washington, it reflects the global vantage point of Platts, whose correspondents are stationed in such major capitals as London, Dubai, Singapore, Tokyo and Moscow.
# # #
About Platts: Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is a leading global provider of energy and commodities information. With a century of business experience, Platts serves customers across more than 150 countries. An independent provider, Platts serves the oil, natural gas, electricity, emissions, nuclear power, coal, petrochemicals, shipping, and metals markets from 17 offices worldwide. Platts' real-time news, pricing, analytical services and conferences help markets operate with transparency and efficiency. Traders, risk managers, analysts, and industry leaders depend upon Platts to help them make better trading and investment decisions. Additional information is available at http://www.platts.com.
About The McGraw-Hill Companies: Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, Platts, Capital IQ, J.D. Power and Associates, McGraw-Hill Construction and Aviation Week. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2008 were $6.4 billion. Additional information is available at www.mcgraw-hill.com.
About W*USA:
W*USA is owned by the Gannett Company Inc. (NYSE: GCI). Gannett is an international news and information company operating on multiple platforms including the Internet, mobile, newspapers, magazines and TV stations. Gannett is an Internet leader with hundreds of newspaper and TV Web sites; CareerBuilder.com, the nation’s top employment site; USATODAY.com; and more than 80 local MomsLikeMe.com sites. Gannett publishes 84 daily U.S. newspapers, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper, and more than 700 magazines and other non-dailies including USA WEEKEND. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in 19 U.S. markets. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company with 17 daily paid-for titles, more than 200 weekly newspapers, magazines and trade publications, and a network of Web sites. Gannett TV stations are: WATL-TV, Atlanta, WXIA-TV, Atlanta, WLBZ-TV, Bangor, Maine, WGRZ-TV, Buffalo, N.Y.WKYC-TV, Cleveland, Ohio, WLTX-TV, Columbia, S.C., KTVD-TV, Denver, Colo. KUSA-TV, Denver, Colo. KNAZ-TV, Flagstaff, Ariz. WZZM-TV, Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Mich., WFMY-TV, Greensboro, N.C., WTLV-TV, Jacksonville, Fla., WJXX-TV, Jacksonville, Fla., WBIR-TV, Knoxville, Tenn., KTHV-TV, Little Rock, Ark., WMAZ-TV, Macon, Ga., KARE-TV, Minneapolis-St. Paul, KPNX-TV, Phoenix, Ariz., WCSH-TV, Portland, Maine, KXTV-TV, Sacramento, Calif., KSDK-TV, St. Louis, Mo., WTSP-TV, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla. WUSA-TV, Washington, D.C.
Media Contacts:
Kathleen Tanzy, Director of Strategic Industry Communications
Platts, 212-904-2860, kathleen_tanzy@platts.com
Steve Houk, Director of Marketing and Promotion
W*USA, 202-895-5970, shouk@wusa9.com