Several energy state members of Congress believe President Barack Obama's oil policy address over the weekend included several positive steps, but that the plan still falls short of what they were looking for: namely, a sharp increase offshore permitting.
Senator Mary Landrieu, Democrat-Louisiana, on Monday praised Obama's decision to extend all leases delayed by the administration's drilling moratorium, which she proposed in a bill introduced earlier this year.
"It's time the administration extended these leases and I hope this means more positive things to come," Landrieu said. "Unfortunately, our oil and gas industry remains constricted because drilling permits are still slow in coming."
Obama, in his weekly radio address on Saturday, said the administration will reverse its earlier stand and issue blanket extensions of all leases in the Gulf affected by last year's government-imposed deepwater moratorium. It is also extending some leases in Alaska for companies that were unable to proceed with planned exploration activities.
Obama also said his energy plan would include annual lease sales in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve and a commitment to conduct at least one lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico by the end of the year, with two more to be held by mid-2012.
Lease sales off the Atlantic coast could also be accelerated, Obama said.
For the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, his plan to create a new office to coordinate permitting of drilling activities in Alaska was potentially the most important part of his proposal.
"Permitting is the single greatest obstacle to domestic production and the President's establishment of a new team to coordinate work on Alaska drilling permits is a positive development, as is the extension of leases in the Gulf of Mexico and Chukchi Sea," Murkowski said in a statement Saturday.
The proposed lease sales in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve are less significant, Murkowski spokesman Robert Dillon said on Monday.
"The challenge hasn't been leases, it's been access and permitting," Dillon said. "I think the president's comments were very carefully chosen to send the right signals to all audiences but in the end what he will actually do is still unknown."
Senator Mark Begich, Democrat-Alaska, also singled-out the permitting office as the key element of Obama's plan. Begich has introduced a bill that would create a similar office. The bill is scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
"I consider the President's address today a positive step forward and a commitment that he is ready to put words into action," Begich said in a statement on Saturday.
Obama's speech came ahead of an expected Senate vote Wednesday on removing $21 billion in tax incentives for the five largest integrated oil companies. But his concessions to pro-drilling members of Congress did not change the minds of Landrieu or Murkowski, their aides said.
