http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/14/AR2010121405771.html

The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 14, 2010; 5:42 PM

WASHINGTON — A bill moving toward approval in the Senate would increase by 60 days the amount of time the Interior Department has to conduct environmental and safety reviews of offshore drilling projects.

The bill would extend the review period for offshore exploration plans from 30 days to 90 days. The Obama administration has said an extension is necessary to ensure projects are adequately reviewed. The agency responsible for offshore drilling was widely criticized after the Gulf oil spill for rushing through BP’s permit for a deepwater well without sufficient environmental review.

Sens. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, and Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, oppose the extension, saying it would unnecessarily delay job-producing offshore energy projects.

Special thanks to Richard Charter.

Drilling cartoon in Virginian-Pilot:

http://www.vasierraclub.org/drillingcartoon.jpg

http://gulfcoastmaritime.com/maritime-legal-news/bayou-perot-oil-rig-explosion-shows-drilling-companies-need-to-do-more-for-worker-safety/2137/

Posted by Your Maritime Lawyer on Dec 7, 2010 in Maritime Legal News

On December 1st, an oil rig exploded off the Louisiana coast, injuring at least three workers and further illustrating the hazardous and often deadly work conditions that maritime workers face every day.

“It’s a shame to see yet another tragedy happen on one of our region’s drilling rigs,” says Kurt Arnold, a partner in the Houston-based maritime injury law firm of Arnold & Itkin LLP, which represents injured offshore workers in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. “It’s our sincere hope that the workers and their families are getting the care and attention they need right now.”

“The series of oil rig explosions we’ve seen in recent months shows that drilling companies are still not doing enough to make sure their workers are safe,” Arnold said.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard website, the December 1 rig fire occurred roughly 20 miles south of New Orleans in Bayou Perot. The work-over rig, owned by Grosse Tete, was located in inland waters and not in the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana Delta Oil reported the incident.

The Coast Guard has reported that three injured crew members were removed from the rig and transported to West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, Louisiana. The extent of their injuries is unknown. Several news organizations have reported that at least two workers were burned.

The fire has stopped, and a Coast Guard flyover showed no signs of environmental pollution.

Reuters has reported that the rig was converting an inactive gas well for injection disposal of waste saltwater.

The explosion comes on the heels of a September 2 oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico on a Mariner Energy offshore oil platform and the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the gulf, which killed 11 crew members and caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history (often called the “BP oil spill”).

“We need better safety measures and practices to be in place to keep these incidents from happening,” says maritime attorney Jason Itkin, a partner of Arnold & Itkin, which is representing several Transocean workers who were injured in the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

“Injured oil workers may be compensated for their injuries by filing claims under various federal laws, including the Jones Act,” Itkin says, “but we need to be more proactive in protecting them.”

For more information about issues in maritime injury law and the services offered by Arnold & Itkin LLP, please visit: Jones-Act-Maritime-Lawyer.com and LawyerForYou.com. For a free consultation, contact a maritime lawyer at Arnold & Itkin LLP by calling toll free (866) 222-2606.

It’s a shame to see yet another tragedy happen on one of our region’s drilling rigs.
– Maritime attorney Kurt Arnold

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-12-07/halliburton-worker-on-smoke-break-missed-bp-well-data.html

December 07, 2010, 4:10 PM EST
By Joe Carroll

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) — A Halliburton Co. technician missed key signals that BP Plc’s doomed Macondo well was on the verge of blowing out because he was taking a smoking break, a federal investigative panel heard.

Joseph E. Keith, a senior unit manager for Halliburton’s Sperry subsidiary, told the U.S. Coast Guard-Interior Department panel in Houston today that he left his post aboard the Deepwater Horizon for about 10 minutes on the night of the April disaster to drink coffee and smoke half a cigarette.

While he was away from his monitors, pressure data indicated the well was filling up with explosive natural gas and crude, according to charts entered into evidence today by the panel in Houston. Keith said that had he seen the pressure data, he would have “called the rig floor” to warn fellow workers they were in danger.

The April 20 catastrophe killed 11 employees, injured 17, sank the $365 million Transocean Ltd. vessel and triggered the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Millions of barrels of crude gushed into the ocean for almost three months, fouling beaches, fishing grounds and marshes, and bringing deep-water oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico to a halt.

“Without someone watching those crucial data points, the people working on the rig had no way of knowing something was awry,” Robert L. Cavnar, former chief financial officer for El Paso Corp.’s oil-drilling business and author of “Disaster on the Horizon: High Stakes, High Risks and the Story Behind the Deepwater Well Blowout.”

Special thanks to Richard Charter

12/06/2010

Katie Howell, E&E reporter
The oil and gas industry will ask Congress to reverse the Obama administration’s plans for offshore drilling, the industry’s top trade group said today.

American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard told reporters that last week’s announcement by the Interior Department to keep unexplored areas in the Atlantic Ocean and eastern Gulf of Mexico off-limits to drilling for at least the next seven years was “taking the country in the wrong direction.”

“These are decisions that set the tone and framework for many years to come,” Gerard said. “This is much bigger than a short-term decision.”

The complexity of the issue demands Congress’ attention, he said.

“We believe an appropriate role for Congress is to provide significant oversight. There has been a bipartisan adverse reaction to what the administration has announced — it isn’t just about Democrats and Republicans,” Gerard said. “Key policies like OCS development, like greenhouse gas emissions, should not be made by unelected bureaucrats. They should be left to the Congress of the United States.”

Gerard added that API will “pursue whatever avenues we think are in the best interests of the American people,” when asked whether the group will seek legislation that expands leasing on the outer continental shelf.

Gerard said his group would look specifically to Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and House Natural Resources ranking member Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), who will likely chair the committee in the Republican-led House next year. Bingaman and Hastings have both expressed disappointment with last week’s decision.

Gerard also touted a new poll out today that found 54 percent of respondents believe the new ban will lead to an increase in gasoline prices. And 54 percent predict the decision will be bad for the economy.

“We think this decision is clearly inconsistent with the view of the public,” Gerard said. “I don’t know what’s gone into the calculus, but hopefully, they’ll reconsider.”

The poll has drawn attention from Hastings and others. Hastings’ office, in fact, circulated the results among reporters this afternoon.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America’s president and CEO, Barry Russell, said of the findings: “The American people fully appreciate the critical role that domestic oil and natural gas production continues to play in ensuring our economy’s strength and our nation’s ability to compete in the global marketplace, especially as it relates to job creation here at home. Unfortunately, this administration clearly does not.”

Special thanks to Richard Charter