Mike Soraghan, E&E reporter
Published: Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Let’s hope that if it were up to the U.S. to determine whether we should drill for oil a few miles downstream from Key West, that the answer would be a resounding NO. DV
Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey today stood up for American companies’ ability to drill for oil — off Cuba.
Calling the long-standing embargo against Cuba the “real moratorium” on drilling, Markey accused Republicans of focusing on a “make-believe” moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico they say has been imposed by the Obama administration. He noted that Cuba’s waters will be open to drilling for the government of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
“I would think my Republican colleagues would rather have this drilling done by Chevron, rather than Chavez,” Markey, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said at a subcommittee hearing.
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Director Michael Bromwich said he would not mind seeing U.S. oil majors drilling off Cuba.
“I strongly support putting people back to work in the Gulf, so if U.S. companies were allowed to drill there that would be great,” Bromwich said after leaving a hearing of the Energy and Mineral Resources subpanel. “But that’s not the world we live in.”
Subcommittee Chairman Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) contrasted the Obama administration’s decision to assist companies involved in Cuban
drilling with what he said is the slow pace of permits being issued for drilling off Louisiana and Texas.
“We see agencies helping Cuban drilling go forward,” Lamborn said. “I wish there was equal effort to help our own companies to produce in the outer continental shelf.”
He also criticized the Obama administration for failing to send witnesses from the departments of State, Treasury and Commerce, which have been involved in monitoring the Cuban drilling, to testify at the hearing.
Lamborn said the administration’s handling of the Cuban drilling situation indicates a willingness to undermine the embargo against the country.
“There has been growing concern that companies will be allowed to expand their engagement with Cuba and that this administration will weaken the U.S. embargo on Cuba, a state sponsor of terror,” Lamborn said.
Cuba is working with Spanish company Repsol to begin drilling a well in its waters before the end of the year. American lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have voiced opposition to the plan to drill up to 16 wells, but the project is beyond the reach of U.S. regulators.
Because of that, Bromwich said the administration decided to engage Repsol, rather than isolating or punishing companies that deal with drilling in Cuba.
“The administration made a conscious decision that’s not the responsible course of action to try to stop activity in waters that
don’t belong to us,” Bromwich told reporters.
Several lawmakers have proposed legislation that would penalize foreign companies for working with Cuba.
But Democratic Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey said the hearing was held to air “fears rather than facts” and ignored the implications of other countries’ moves to produce oil from the Arctic seafloor.
“There’s a black gold rush,” Holt said. “The United States is sitting on the sidelines.”
Under friendly questioning by Holt, Bromwich offered mild criticism of the CEOs of the companies involved in last year’s deadly explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico — BP PLC, Transocean Ltd., Halliburton Co. and Cameron International Corp. — for their refusal to testify at a hearing of the committee this afternoon (E&E Daily, Nov. 2).
“With the litigation they are facing, I understand their decision, but I’m disappointed by their position,” Bromwich said.
Special thanks to Richard Charter