NOIA Statement on Completion of Spill Containment System and Court Order on Drilling Permits, Urges BOEMRE to Move on Permitting

For Immediate Release:                                                Contact:  Nicolette Nye

Thursday, February 17, 2011                                             (202) 347-6900          

 

NOIA Statement on Completion of Spill Containment System

and Court Order on Drilling Permits, Urges BOEMRE to Move on Permitting

 

WASHINGTON, DC – NOIA President Randall Luthi today issued the following statement on the Marine Well Containment Company’s (MWCC) completion of an initial spill containment system and a U.S. District Court order on drilling permits.

 

“I applaud the Marine Well Containment Company on the successful completion of this unprecedented rapid response spill containment system. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has indicated that the lack of such a system was holding up deepwater drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico.  Now that the system exists and has been successfully tested, I am hopeful the agency will soon issue long-awaited permits to drill. The offshore industry is safer than ever. Companies have been sidelined long enough, and they are more than ready and able to get back to work in the Gulf of Mexico, safely drilling and producing home-grown oil that accounts for 30 percent of the country’s domestic supply.

 

There was also a ruling by Judge Feldman today ordering the Administration to make a decision within 30 days on five deepwater drilling permits sought by Ensco PLC.  Feldman's ruling is further evidence that the time to begin issuing permits is now. The court has spoken; the containment technology is there. BOEMRE needs to let us get back to the work of supplying American energy and jobs."

  

###

 

NOIA is the only national trade association representing all segments of the offshore industry with an interest in the exploration and production of both traditional and renewable energy resources on the nation’s outer continental shelf.  The NOIA membership comprises more than 275 companies engaged in business activities ranging from producing to drilling, engineering to marine, land and air transport, warehousing and logistics to offshore construction to equipment manufacture and supply, telecommunications to finance and insurance.

 

National Ocean Industries Association
1120 G Street, NW • Suite 900
Washington, DC 20005

Phone: 202.347.6900 | Email: media@nullnoia.org