Salazar to Make Announcement Tuesday on Offshore Energy Policy

Mon, February 09, 2009 - 6:43 PM

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar is expected Tuesday afternoon to make a major announcement about the future off-shore oil drilling policies of President Barack Obama’s administration.

Salazar’s office sent out a notice today saying the announcement will be “regarding the nation’s energy development strategy for the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf…”

The announcement will be closely watched by those in Florida for what it might mean to the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and by those as well in Atlantic coast states.

Obama has said he supports some expanded off-shore drilling; but has not been much more specific than that. The Interior Department oversees the nation's energy resources and environment, including oil and gas drilling on public lands.

Salazar, while still a Colorado senator, was part of a bipartisan group that supported a proposal last year that called for both additional offshore drilling and taxing the oil industry, while funneling more money into renewable energy.

That bill, which would also have permitted drilling in the Atlantic Ocean at least 50 miles off the coasts of four Southeastern states, ultimately was not passed.

But last year, Congress did let expire a 26-year ban on Atlantic, Pacific and Alaskan offshore drilling - including off the Atlantic shores of Florida.

And a proposal in the final days of the Bush administration could push the drilling in these areas forward.

Conservationists and others are now pushing the Obama administration to work to reinstate the ban.

Congress this year could either do so or, more likely, allow some drilling while restricting most oil production within sight of the shore.

Meantime, the areas off of Florida's west coast - the Eastern Gulf of Mexico - are protected through 2022 under legislation passed by Florida’s Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and its Republican Sen. Mel Martinez.

The closest point drilling can occur is about 100 miles off of the Panhandle and 125 miles off of most areas of Florida. House Democrats from the state have been assured by Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she would not permit any legislation to pass that will alter that.

-- Billy House, Media General News Service