June 8, 2010
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
I write to express my strong opposition to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. I am concerned that the decision to impose the moratorium is based more on emotion than fact. The Deepwater Horizon incident was a terrible human tragedy with devastating environmental consequences, but it must be viewed in the proper historical context as a statistical anomaly. The government’s own records show that since 1985, more than 7 billion barrels of oil have been produced in federal offshore waters with less than 0.001 percent spilled – a 99.999% record for clean operations. That 25-year record of safety should not be ignored in the haste to respond to public discord.
Analysis from the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association shows the moratorium would put as many as 1,400 jobs per platform at risk, and lost wages could reach $10 million per month per platform and up to $330 million per month for all 33 platforms. Our economy is struggling mightily, and this drilling halt will adversely impact small businesses down the entire supply chain. The effect will extend far past the oil industry and be most damaging in the Gulf region, where a range of businesses from restaurants and cleaners to hardware stores and garages depend on a robust offshore industry. The Gulf Coast is already suffering from the emotional and physical trauma of the Deepwater Horizon incident, and this moratorium will only add financial trauma to their plight.
According to the Minerals Management Service, 80 percent of the U.S. supply of oil developed offshore comes from deepwater drilling. That amount is projected to rise dramatically in the coming decades, and any moratorium on domestic production will only increase our dependence on foreign nations that are often hostile to America’s interests. Adding to the volatility is the fact that transporting oil is extremely dangerous and poses a much more serious threat to our environment than drilling in U.S. waters.
Further complicating matters is the current confusion over the Interior Department’s freeze in approving any shallow water drilling permits. While I understand the Department has stated that such permits may go forward as soon as operators can demonstrate adoption of enhanced safety standards, the industry requires further clarification from the administration as to exactly what those standards will be. Companies will then need additional time to understand the changes and deploy new standards and technology to meet the requirements. I fear the delay equates to a de-facto moratorium on shallow water drilling, only adding to the economic uncertainty and instability in the Gulf region. These companies, their workers, and all Americans who depend on the energy they produce need swift action from the department to get back to work.
I strongly encourage you not to punish the entire oil and gas industry because of any mistakes that were made on Deepwater Horizon. This shortsighted moratorium is harmful to America and our fragile economy, and it will mire domestic energy production in a confusing and ineffective bureaucracy. I implore you to lift the moratorium and allow responsible drilling off of our coasts to continue.
Sincerely,
John Culberson
Member of Congress
My name is Matt Doan. I am the owner & President of DeepTrend, Inc. We are a deepwater engineering firm specializing in deepwater subsea systems.
Further to your discussion, other impacts have yet to be discussed: 34 deepwater rigs are currently resident in the GOM deepwater arena working for the various operators (majors, mid-majors and independents). IF this moratorium continues for the full duration, Transocean, Ensco, Diamond and Noble Drilling will simply take these deepwater rigs to other parts of the world (West Africa, Brazil, Australia, Southeast Asia, etc.). The drilling companies can NOT afford to have deepwater drilling rigs sitting idle for 6 months waiting on the government. THIS is the aspect that will cripple the deepwater GOM activities. The new Hurricane requirements have already significantly crippled the rig count in the GOM. This moratorium will further devastate the rig count. In other words, in 6 months deepwater drilling will NOT continue as is, simply because the rig count will plummet. Thus further reducing our ability to meet our countries energy demands. If you would like to discuss this matter in more depth, please email or call. Regards, Matt Doan
Mr. Culberson,
I am greatly concerned about the posturing the current administration and other members of congress are making in regards to the current gulf incident. Let me first say that what is going on in the gulf is a disaster. I am greatly saddened by the loss of life and damage to the environment. With that being said, the congressional grandstanding and attacks on the oil & gas industry is disgusting. The oil & gas industry is one of the few industries that has remained viable through the economic downturn, provides hundreds of thousands of American jobs (most indirectly), and contrary to popular belief takes Health, Safety, and the Enviroment more serioulsy than most other industries. I am sorry the La. shrimpers/fishermen/crabbers are without work to no fault of their own, but so are millions of other Americans across this great country. Holding energy companies and the entire industry over the coals for an unfortunate accident is atrocious. I don’t remember any government handouts or checks for Enron employees that not only lost their jobs, but their entire life savings? Is the government going to go after BP to compensate the thousands of local Houston employees that lose their jobs due to a moratorium? Where do you draw the line? Oil & gas industry employees are going to lose jobs because certain members of congress want to talk tough against oil & gas companies and force resources out of the US. It WILL happen. These resources will follow the rigs they support, and drilling contractors are not going to sit on idle rigs why the jokes in DC try and figure out what they want to do in the GOM. If the rigs move out of the gulf and into foreign waters, so will the resources necessary to support them. I know because firms are already looking at contingency restructuring cost analysis should this occur. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going to happen to our local economy, and further reaching, the already struggling American economy if the current administration continues to halt deep water drilling in the GOM. I could go on and on about this, but the bottom line is these people need to be very careful what they wish for. Haven’t they done enough damage to this country already? I have never seen more talking heads grandstanding in front of cameras over something they know very little, if anything, about. Please continue to highlight the economic repercussions of banning deep water drilling in GOM, and the harm it will do to American jobs. Discussions on how to drill in these harsh environments safer and cleaner, and industry wide dialogue on how to respond better to future disasters of this magnitude is the direction we should be moving in. How the government can support and facilitate these discussions and solutions is what congress should be focusing on. Halting mass GOM drilling is knee jerk, dangerous, and quite honestly dim witted.
Best Regards,
Just an average guy
If the Moratorium continues as planned, you can count on energy prices going up considerably, job loss in the lower tier of states increasing considerably and unemployment filings increasing across numerous states who depend on the construction and sale of materials used offshore to escalate. Good luck Congressman but I think a letter to the President falls on deaf ears and a much more aggressive effort is needed from Congress and constituents, including ignorant Floridians who think tourism in Florida will increase if Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi residents are unemployed.
How do you define ‘responsible’ drilling off shore???
Have the oil companies been ‘responsible’ to date?
When oil remains after more than two decades in Alaska, who is responsible?
What percentage of budgets or profits have the oil companies spent on R & D for disaster clean up? How many dead scientist, wrong numbers, wrong email addresses, and walruses are listed in those safety and clean up proposals?
Stop the spin, answer with honest facts.
Mr. Culberson,
Before the moratorium is lifted, I’m sure you first want to make the owners/operators of these platforms, you need so badly for your economy, to prove to their workers and the American people that their platforms are being safely and legally operated so eleven more lives aren’t lost and another catastrophic oil spill like what is currently happening (with no end in sight) never happens again. I am willing to bet the Deepwater Horizon platform is not the only one with substandard safety programs and little to no spill response plan for deep water drilling. Perhaps if the oil from this “statistical anomaly” were washing up on the Texas shore instead of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama you would be asking more questions about the safety and spill response of these platforms instead of when can the moratorium can be lifted. By the way, 1985 to 2010 is 25 years, not 35. Hopefully nobody from your staff is in charge of calculating the impact this moratorium will have on your district’s economy, they might overstate it.
I agree with Mr. Culberson. Lift the moratorium on deepwater drilling. Oil is one of the greatest needs of America and relying on foreign oil is placing us further into debt. I pray Mr. President that the Lord will show you the truth by the Spirit of Truth.
BTW, I cannot view the pictures that were uploaded.
God bless America