Louise "Toot" Marie Chiasson Fremin
October 7, 2008
Marie "Grum" Hartman Hebert
October 9, 2008
Although it should have only minor benefits for the oil and gas industry in the Tri-parishes, the U.S. House failed to renew the ban on oil drilling off most of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
The oil-drilling ban, which has been in effect since 1982, needed to be renewed by Oct. 1. However, the House decided against reinstituting the moratorium, which would have been included in a stopgap spending measure. The U.S. Senate still needs to approve lifting the ban.
In July, President Bush eliminated an executive ban on oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, but the Democratic-controlled House’s decision to go along with the president was not anticipated. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had expressed firm opposition to allowing the ban to be lifted.
Oil and gas producers in the Tri-parishes will not be greatly affected because drilling off the shores of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama is already permitted. The waters off the nearby Florida coast, which would have had the greatest impact on local oil-related businesses, will still be off-limits.
A law passed in 2006 opening up sections of the east central Gulf prohibits drilling off the western Florida coast.
“If they do open up more drilling in Florida, much of the fabrication would be done in Louisiana, Texas and Alabama with fabrication facilities already in place,” said Gulf Island Fabrication CEO Kerry Chauvin. “Not everyone wants a fabrication yard in their backyard. We would get a lot more work in this area.”
“Florida would have to start from scratch,” Phoenix Exploration spokesman Tim Duncan said. “Seismic crews, drilling, boating services – all the stuff Houma uses every day.”
“It’s a new opportunity for services getting stale, a chance to do it all over again,” he said. “New structures will get built, new construction yards.”
He added, “No one’s gone into Florida and measured this. Other places in the Gulf can do it off the shelf.”
Before any drilling can begin off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the federal government would have to conduct environmental impact assessments.
And states will battle with Congress to get royalties from oil taken out of their coastal waters. Democrats in Congress are expected to try to place some limits on where drilling can take place offshore.
The federal government estimates that 18 billion barrels of recoverable oil exist off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
“The fact that we’ve blocked Nancy Pelosi and others from extending the moratorium on (offshore drilling) is great news,” U.S. Senator David Vitter (R-LA) said in a release.
Vitter and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal have been strong proponents for lifting the oil-drilling ban. “This is one clear instance when Congress needed to do nothing.”
The release states that 85 percent of U.S. territorial waters will be opened now for oil drilling because of Congress’ decision not to renew the ban.
