Stealth ban on Gulf drilling

The offshore drilling ban imposed after the BP disaster is only supposed to hit operations in deep water -- 500 feet or more.

But drillers in shallow water say they haven't been issued permits since the April 20 explosion. The delay has already forced hundreds of layoffs, and many more could be on the way.

..."Every time he asks them how many permits they've issued, and each time the answer is zero," said Hercules' Noe.

Safety first: An Interior Department spokeswoman said there is no freeze on shallow water drilling. However, she said, new safety procedures were put in place following the Deepwater Horizon spill.

"Companies have to comply before we can issue them permits," the spokeswoman said. "No one has fully complied."

Spartan's Butler said there was a long delay between when Interior stopped issuing permits and when the new safety guidelines came out. Indeed, the first Interior Department notification to oil companies about the new requirements was dated June 8, nearly two months after the disaster.

Most of you won’t understand the contents of the Notices to Lessees (NTL). The ones issued on June 8 and June 18

http://www.mms.gov/ntls/

are generally useless feel good claptrap. Almost all of this stuff has been done for years and years. However, the “safety rules” are written in a format that some of us call, “rock management”. They are open, general and ambiguous. Rock management is a means whereby the person in authority tells the subordinate to go get a rock.

Subordinate: What kind of rock?
Authority: Knowing what kind of rock is your job to find out.
Subordinate: Goes out and works diligently to get the right size, shape and color of rock.
Subordinate: Here is your rock.
Authority: Wrong rock. Go back and get another.
Subordinate: Can you give me some instruction about what is wrong with this rock and how it differs from the rock you want.
Authority: Knowing what kind of rock is your job to find out.
And so it goes on and on until the subordinate is exhausted or the Authority finally relents.

This is a perfect strategy to never make a decision and never grant a permit... drilling dies but the Authority can say they had a chance to get the right rock.

This administration is a disaster and needs to go by any means.

I will also tell you this, BP is not doing all that can be done to stop this spill. Source control is the most important thing and it is not getting any attention. The spill is only the manifestation of failed source control. The drilling and collection fleet is an expensive window dressing inspired by people who are inadequate to this task.

They should have put a capping stack on this well with wing valves and chokes within the first days.

They should have used the marine riser as a meter run to determine the flow rate.

They should have made arrangements to tie this well in to an emergency sales line like the Shell Nakika Pipeline System. DOT should have given an emergency dispensation to do this and facilitated the suspension of production from the Nakika complex to accommodate the emergency sales.

There is no reason the tie-in can’t be done now. We are facing a long hurricane season it will result in huge delays to complete the relief well(s) that may not even work when they intersect the blowout well.

I repeat, this administration and BP both suck and need to go away...for good.

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