The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on the environmental impacts of offshore energy” on Nov. 19. Representatives from MMS, industry, and experts on ocean resource conservation testified. The hearing was held at the request of Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who stated that he plans to offer amendments to Senate energy and climate change legislation to help expand offshore oil and natural gas production. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) said they plan to offer an amendment that would permit costal states that allow offshore drilling in federal waters to receive 37.5% of royalties.
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On November 19 MMS met with representatives from Massachusetts, including state and local legislators and tribal leaders, as part of a new inter-governmental task force for the development of renewable energy on the OCS. During the meeting, task force members discussed goals and objectives for offshore renewable energy development and reviewed a draft task force charter. MMS also explained the renewable energy leasing process and discussed strategies to implement it offshore Massachusetts. MMS is currently pursuing similar task forces with Delaware, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Virginia as part of its framework for facilitating renewable energy leasing and development on the OCS.
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The Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced this morning in the Federal Register that the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement prepared for the TORP Bienville LNG deepwater port project is now available in the Regulations.gov system under Docket No. USCG-2006-24644. MARAD also announced that it has scheduled a public meeting to accept comments on the project in Mobile, Ala., on December 9, 2009.
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MMS met with officials from Rhode Island yesterday as part of a new inter-governmental task force for the development of renewable energy on the OCS. The meeting took place as part of MMS’s framework for facilitating renewable energy leasing and development on the OCS. During the meeting, the newly formed state-MMS task force discussed options for initiating the offshore leasing process for renewable energy development activities off Rhode Island as well as other OCS development activities and timelines. MMS is currently pursuing similar task forces with Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia.
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DOI Secretary Ken Salazar announced an oil and natural gas lease sale will commence March 17, 2010. Nearly 36 million acres will be offered, which the DOI estimates could produce up to 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 5.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The notice also proposes to reduce the length of lease terms as follows: leases in water depths between 1,300 to 2,600 feet would be reduced to 5 years from the current 8-year term, and leases in water depths between 2,600 and 5,200 feet would be reduced to 7 years from the current 10-year term. Both lease terms could be extended by 3 years if the lessee starts an exploratory well.
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The President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API), Jack Gerard, sent Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar a letter on November 11, 2009, urging Salazar to fast-track policies to promote domestic oil and natural gas production. In his letter, Gerard expressed displeasure with the DOI's sluggish development of a programmatic environmental impact statement required to allow seismic testing along the Atlantic offshore region, calling it a "glaring example" of the administration's delay. This testing is necessary for gathering information that the DOI has claimed it will need for successful planning and leasing, and consequently is critical to an Atlantic offshore drilling program.
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Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA) wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Interior yesterday expressing his support for the Cape Wind project planned for offshore Massachusetts. According to the Boston Globe, environmentalists speculate that Rep. Markey's letter is in response to a decision by the Massachusetts state historic preservation officer who recently ruled that Nantucket Sound is eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places because it may contain remains of ancestors of the Wampanoag tribe. This decision is counter to the previous decision of the U.S. Minerals Management Service. The National Park Service now will have 45 days to determine which decision is accurate. Read more in yesterday's Greenwire [subscription required].
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Sen. Jeff Atwater (R-Palm Beach), President of the Florida Senate, announced on Monday that the Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee will conduct a comprehensive review of the implications of oil and gas exploration offshore Florida. The announcement will likely delay final passage of a bill, already passed by the Florida House, that would open up Florida waters to offshore drilling. A press release added that "the analysis will be driven by the need for a dispassionate review, not timelines or schedules." The Tallahassee Democrat provides further coverage.
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E&E Greenwire [subscription required] reports that the University of Maine will use $8 million in grant money from the U.S. Department of Energy to test three stability systems for deepwater offshore wind turbines. The concepts to be tested will include Statoil's Hywind design, a prototype of which has already been installed offshore Norway. The test turbines will be installed at a site in the Gulf of Maine by 2011.
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The candidates in the Virginia gubernatorial race are pushing their respective energy platforms as voters head to the polls tomorrow. Republican Bob McDonnell has expressed his support for expanding offshore E&P efforts, particularly the economic benefits of offshore natural gas production, while Democrat Creigh Deeds has focused on alternative energy research at Virginia universities. Read more in the News Virginian (Waynesboro, VA).
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