2010 NOIA Annual Meeting
April 21 - 23
The Mandarin Oriental
Washington, DC
[Please note: NOIA Meetings Are NOT open to the Public or the Press.]
Click here to download the Chairman's Message
Click here to download a meeting schedule
Click here to download spouse program
Click here to download a printable meeting registration form (Registration still available)
Click here to register for the meeting online (Registration still available)
For hotel reservations call Ann Chapman at 202-347-6900.
Questions or problems registering? Contact ann@nullnoia.org
Meeting Schedule and Spouse Program
Please note: In addition to the speakers featured in this program, NOIA has also extended speaking invitations to several influential members of the U.S. Congress and the Obama Administration. Confirmed speakers include General Hugh Schelton, Kellyanne Conway and Robin West. These speakers will be featured in the Meal Functions/General Sessions marked with an asterisk (*)
Wednesday, April 21:
12:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Registration
Grand Ballroom Foyer
1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Hospitality Suite
Sackler
2:30 p.m. - 3:25 p.m.
Finance Committee
Oriental C
3:35 p.m. - 5:05 p.m.
Executive Committee
(closed session)
Hirshhorn
6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Welcome Reception
Grand Ballroom A
Thursday, April 22:
7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Hospitality Suite
Sackler
8:30 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
Breakfast
Speaker: Kellyanne Conway
"Hot Topics, Hot Races and Hot Buttons: Who and What to Watch in 2010"
Grand Ballroom C
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
General Session
Panel Discussion: "A View from Washington: Perspectives 2010"
Moderator: Thomas DeFrank,
Legendary Presidential Reporter
Panelists: Jonah Goldberg,
best-selling author and founding editor of National Review Online
Ron Elving, Senior Washington Editor for National Public Radio
Robert W. Merry, Former
President of Congressional Quarterly
Kimberly Dozier, CBS News Correspondent and Best-Selling Author of Breathing the Fire
Grand Ballroom A B
12:15 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Lunch
Speaker: General Hugh Shelton,
Former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
"America’s Challenge: Dealing with the Middle East, Terrorism, and an Uncertain Future"
Grand Ballroom C
2:10 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
General Session
Speaker: Admiral Thad W. Allen, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard
Grand Ballroom A
3:10 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.
Technology Policy Committee
Speaker: Bud Danenberger
Grand Ballroom B
4:05 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Board of Directors & Membership Committee Meeting
Grand Ballroom C
6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Reception
Grand Ballroom Foyer
7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Annual Banquet
featuring "The Three Waiters"
Grand Ballroom A B
Friday, April 23:
7:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Hospitality Suite
Sackler
8:30 a.m. - 9:50 a.m.
Breakfast
Speaker: Sen. Mike Haridopolos, President-Designate of the Florida Senate
Grand Ballroom A
10:00 a.m. –10:40 a.m.
General Session
Speaker: Robin West, Chairman, PFC Energy: "Surging Tides: New places, new players"
Grand Ballroom C
10:50 a.m. –11:35 a.m.
Government Affairs Committee
Speaker: Jeffrey Holmstead, Partner, Bracewell & Giuliani
Grand Ballroom B
11:40 a.m. –12:30 p.m.
Joint Committee Meeting:
Public Affairs & Education Committee/Health, Safety, Security & Environment Committee
Oriental A B
Spouse Program
NOIA is pleased to offer the following activities for the spouses and guests of NOIA members in attendance at the Annual Meeting. As always, spouses and guests are also welcome to participate in any of the open sessions of the NOIA Annual Meeting schedule. Please do not forget to indicate your selection of activities on the Meeting Registration Form on the online registration. If you have any questions, please contact Ann Chapman at (202) 347-6900 or ann@nullnoia.org.
Thursday, April 22
Explore the U.S. Botanic Garden
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Today guests of NOIA will experience The US Botanic Garden that includes Bartholdi Park and the Bartholdi Fountain.
The newly renovated Conservatory offers the citizens of Washington and visitors from across the nation a beautiful and fascinating living plant museum here on our Nation’s Mall at the foot of the U.S. Capitol. The U.S. Botanic Garden currently maintains about 26,000 plants. The Garden’s noteworthy collections include economic plants, medicinal plants, orchids, cacti and succulents, bromeliads, cycads, and ferns. Approximately 4,000 plants are on display. The National Garden features plants native to the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as a Butterfly Garden, Rose Garden and First Ladies Water Garden. Bartholdi Park is an outdoor garden demonstration landscape and includes the historic Bartholdi Fountain.
Bartholdi Park on the conservatory campus was created in 1932 and named for Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the historic fountain located at its center. The beds in the Park were geometrically arranged and planted in formal classical style to feature the fountain and to accommodate public gatherings. The plantings have been redesigned during the last decade and are continuously updated to reflect modern trends in American horticulture and new plant introductions. The Park now serves as a home landscape demonstration garden and showcases innovative plant combinations in a variety of styles and design themes. The U.S. Botanic Garden Administration Building is located in the Park.
The Bartholdi Fountain on the conservatory campus was created by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) for the 1876 International Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. The design was based on a model he had created in 1867. Bartholdi was also working on his design for the Statue of Liberty at the same time. The fountain, cast in Paris by A. Durenne, was painted to look like bronze and placed at a focal point near the main entrance of the Exhibition grounds in Fairmount Park.
At the close of the Exhibition, the fountain was purchased for $6,000 (half of its estimated value) by the United States government at the suggestion of Frederick Law Olmsted, the famous landscape architect who designed the Capitol Grounds. It was moved to Washington, D.C., in 1877 and placed at the base of Capitol Hill near the center line of the Mall, on what was then the Botanic Garden grounds.
After a morning of touring, Lunch will be enjoyed at Art and Soul, located in the heart of Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, with celebrated two-time James Beard-Award winning Chef Art Smith as chef/owner.
Note: You will depart hotel at 10:00 a.m. and return at 2:00 p.m. The tour is $95.00 per person (including lunch) Reservations are required
Friday, April 23
Tour of the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., is a symbol of the American people and their government, the meeting place of the nation’s legislature. The Capitol also houses an important collection of American art, and it is an architectural achievement in its own right.
The U.S. Capitol Visitor Center is the newest addition to this historic complex. At nearly 580,000 square feet, the Visitor Center is the largest project in the Capitol’s more than two-century history and is approximately three quarters the size of the Capitol itself. The entire facility is located underground on the east side of the Capitol so as not to detract from the appearance of the Capitol and the grounds designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1874.
While visiting the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center guests will have the opportunity to visit the nooks and crannies of the this powerful space not available to the general public including the Brumidi Frescoes. The vaulted, ornately decorated corridors on the first floor of the Senate wing in the United States Capitol are called the Brumidi Corridors because, although assistants and other artists are responsible for many of the details, the design of the murals and the major elements are by Constantino Brumidi. Born in Rome in 1805, Brumidi had painted in the Vatican and in the palace and villa of a Roman prince before immigrating to the United States in 1852. After he proved his skill in fresco painting in 1855, he spent much of the next 25 years until his death in 1880 decorating the Capitol.
The tour will be lead by Barbara Wolanin, the Curator of the Architect’s Office.
Note: You will depart the hotel at 10:00 a.m. and return 12:00 p.m. The tour is $85.00 per person. Reservations are required.
For Immediate Release: Contact: Nicolette Nye or Michael Kearns
Friday, January 16, 2009 (202) 347-6900
Statement of NOIA President Tom Fry on the 2010-2015 Draft Proposed 5-Year Leasing Program
WASHINGTON, DC – “The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) applauds the Department of the Interior for issuing the Draft Proposed 2010-2015 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program today.
Today’s action marks the latest step in a multi-year effort to plan for safe development of our domestic offshore energy resources.
The draft proposed program allows for analysis of a wide range of offshore areas, some which have been safely developed for decades, and others which had been held off-limits for over twenty years by blanket Congressional and Executive proclamations.
In developing the draft proposed program, the Department solicited the input of individual states, providing them the first of several opportunities to shape and influence the outcome of a final offshore leasing program.
The energy resources on the OCS are vital to the nation’s economic prosperity, and safety records show that they can be produced in an environmentally responsible manner.
The National Ocean Industries Association and its member companies look forward to participating in this multi-step public process to determine where and when it makes the most sense to explore for and produce energy resources from the OCS.”
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NOIA is the only national trade association representing all segments of the offshore industry with an interest in the exploration and production of energy resources on the nation’s outer continental shelf. The NOIA membership comprises more than 300 companies engaged in business activities ranging from producing to drilling, engineering to marine and air transport, offshore construction to equipment manufacture and supply, telecommunications to finance and insurance.
Alternative Energy and Alternate Use of Existing Facilities on the Outer Continental Shelf
- Proposed Rule
- Draft Environmental Assessment
- Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
Technical Correction to Notice of Nominations Received and Proposed Limited Alternative Energy Leases (04/30/2008: 63.16 KB PDF file)
Notice of Nominations Received and Proposed Limited Alternative Energy Leases on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and Initiation of Coordination and Consultation (04/18/2008, 64.39KB PDF file
Proposed Lease Areas off California (142.76 KB PDF file)
Proposed Lease Area off Delaware (1062.63 KB PDF file)
Proposed Lease Areas off Florida (1308.57 KB PDF file)
Proposed Lease Areas off Georgia (1793.78 KB PDF file)
Proposed Lease Areas off New Jersey (1338.36 KB PDF file)
Request for Information and Nominations Notice (11/6/07: 59.78 KB PDF file)
Revised Lease Form and Information Collection Notice (04/21/08: 1 MB PDF file)
Lease Form and Information Collection Notice (12/14/07: 79.89 KB PDF file)
Record of Decision for the Final PEIS (01/10/08)
Notice of Availability of Final PEIS (11/6/07)
Final PEIS (11/5/07)
Notice of Availability of Draft PEIS (03/21/07)
Draft PEIS (03/21/07)
Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare PEIS (05/5/06)
Proposed Rule: Alternative Energy and Alternate Use of Existing Facilities on the Outer Continental Shelf (07/09/2008; 1 MB PDF file)
Draft Environmental Assessment Corresponding to the Proposed Rule (07/09/08; 48.74 KB PDF file)
Notice of Intent to Prepare Environmental Assessment (EA) (02/26/08: 48.74 KB PDF file)
Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (12/30/05: 58.15 KB PDF file)
Energy Policy Act of 2005 (08/8/05: 2.47 MB PDF file))
Section 388 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (08/8/05: 36.35 KB PDF file)
Notice of Extension of Public Comment Period on Cape Wind Draft EIS (03/10/2008; 53.69 KB PDF file)
Notice of Availability for the Cape Wind Draft EIS (01/18/08): 48.74 KB PDF file)
Cape Wind Draft EIS (01/14/08: 6.69 MB PDF file)
Notice of Intent to prepare EIS (05/30/06: 84.18 KB PDF file)
Notice of Intent to prepare LIOWP EIS (06/19/2008: 50.05 KB PDF file)
FAQ: New 5 Year Outer Continental Shelf
Oil and Gas Leasing Program
Q: Why is MMS doing another 5-year program now?
A: In light of the current energy situation and President Bush’s lifting of the Presidential Withdrawal, the Secretary of the Interior directed MMS to begin the initial steps for developing a new five-year program. We are, in effect, getting a two-year jumpstart on that process. It is still a multi-step, and multi-year process to develop a five-year program.
The current five-year program took effect on July 1, 2007 at a time when oil was only $64 a barrel and does not contain many of the areas that were under Withdrawal and remain under Congressional ban. Should the Congressional ban be lifted, a new program would have to be developed to make those areas available.
Q: With this new program, will you be able to lease new areas that were under Presidential Withdrawal?
A: This action begins a process that will open discussions about expanding our domestic energy production. If Congress acts by removing their ban, then new areas could become available, but only after a lengthy process involving active public input and strong safety and environmental protections.
Q: Did Congress lift their ban?
A: They have not. Current moratoria for the Atlantic, Pacific coasts and a small portion of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico are established through the annual appropriations process. However, most of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico was placed under a different statutory ban that is set to remain until 2022. Congress would have to either delete or modify language in upcoming appropriations bills or enact specific legislation to make those areas available.
Q: What happens if the new administration doesn’t want the new 5-year program? Will they have an opportunity to change it?
A: The next administration will have every opportunity to take advantage of today's action. Decisions to continue or stop this process will be theirs.
Q1: Are you going to open up the entire OCS or just certain sections?
A: This action is designed to encourage discussions about the OCS areas of greatest interest, with the greatest potential. New areas will not be available for leasing until the Five Year Program is complete, having incorporated multiple rounds of public comment and Congressional approval.
Q: How much oil do you really think is out there?
A: The Minerals Management Service estimates about 17.84 billion barrels of oil and 76.47 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to be technically recoverable in the areas currently off limits. Those numbers are very conservative as little exploration has been conducted in most of those areas during the past 20-30 years. Our estimates are based on the available data. We have seen, though, that the numbers tend to increase dramatically as technology improves and exploration activities occur.
Q: What are the steps in the 5-year leasing process?
A: The process currently used by the Minerals Management Service includes three separate public comment periods, two separate draft proposals, development of an environmental impact statement, and the final proposal. It culminates in a decision by the Secretary of the Interior on a new 5-year program. Additionally, there is an “annual review” step for the years when a 5-year program is in place and a new one is not yet being developed.
Q: Who may provide comments during this first step?
A: The Minerals Management Service welcomes comments from all interested and affected parties, including individuals, organizations, and government entities.
Q: What type of information is MMS seeking?
A21: The Minerals Management Service (MMS) would like to receive all comments and suggestions of national or regional application that would be useful in formulating the offshore oil and gas leasing program. Specific categories of comments that MMS feels would be particularly useful can be found on the MMS web site at www.mms.gov.
Q: Which areas are considered to be under the congressional ban?
A: The congressional ban currently encompasses all of the Outer Continental Shelf located along the west coast, east coast, most of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Area, and a portion of the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area.
Q: How much energy does the Outer Continental Shelf provide our nation?
A: The Outer Continental Shelf currently provides about 27% of domestic oil production and about 15% of domestic natural gas production.
Q: Will this shorten, or eliminate the requirement for the environmental reviews since MMS just went through that process last year?
A: A new program will require additional environmental reviews in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act as well as numerous other environmental laws affecting OCS exploration and development.
Q: How will the new program affect the current program?
A: If implemented, the new program will replace and supersede the portion of the current program remaining after the effective date of the new program. Currently scheduled sales for mid-2010 to mid-2012 would likely be included in any new program.
Q: What is MMS doing to make companies produce on the leases they already have?
A: MMS encourages due diligence by establishing primary terms of leases that allow only the minimum length of time a company should need to explore a lease. At the end of the primary term, the lease must produce in paying quantities or the operator must conduct continuous operations in order to keep the lease in effect unless MMS grants an extension. If an extension is granted, the MMS monitors activity closely and ensures that approved milestones are met in a timely fashion.
Q: Will MMS prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) as part of the process to develop a new 5-Year program?
A: Yes. If the decision is made to prepare a new 5-Year program, MMS will publish a Notice of Intent (NOI) announcing its decision to prepare an EIS in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The NOI will also announce the public scoping process. Throughout the scoping process, Federal, state, and local government agencies and other interested parties will have the opportunity to aid MMS in determining the significant issues and alternatives for analysis in the EIS. The public will have an additional opportunity to comment on the Draft EIS. All comments received on the Draft EIS will be addressed in the Final EIS. Subsequent NEPA documents may be prepared with additional comment periods.
Q: MMS has an extensive regulatory program and daily inspections; can you describe this a bit more?
A: The oil industry cannot just begin operations once they obtain a lease. Many regulatory approvals are required. A company must file an exploration plan before drilling any wells and that is subject to a technical and environmental review by MMS. Once a discovery is made the company has to file a development plan for MMS to again conduct a technical and environmental review before production could begin. For major facilities, MMS conducts an onsite inspection before allowing production to begin. Often this is a joint inspection with the US Coast Guard. Air emissions permits and water discharge permits must also be obtained from the EPA. MMS has over 60 inspectors that daily fly offshore to conduct safety and environmental inspections