House Panel Passes Bill to Streamline Issuance of Air Permits for Oil Drill

rigzone.com ^ | Thursday, June 02, 2011 | Tennille Tracy

[Rabin]

Unlike drilling projects in parts of the Gulf of Mexico, where the Interior Department is responsible for granting air permits, Arctic projects require approval from the EPA. The EPA's process for approving Clean Air Act permits for offshore drilling came into focus after Shell struggled to secure clean-air permits for drilling projects in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas spent about $3.5 billion to explore and prepare for those projects, but EPA, clean-air regulatory hurdles have prevented the company from obtaining necessary approvals…

"It's time to either give the permits now or stop altogether," said Rep. Fred Upton (R., Mich.), chairman of the energy committee.

[Rabin]

Fred, (ban the bulb) Upton, Boehner's' butt boy @ commerce, is thought to prefer the "stop all together option".

Rab thinks ifn there's a special award for deck stacking, then team 0, is hands down.

[tobyhill]

Another Kabuki Dance. The air permits are minor compared to the EPA’s other permitting. They should defund the EPA and be done with them.

[arrogantsob]

A good step now lets watch the RATS kill it in the Senate.

[Smokin' Joe]

But, but, OMG! A few drilling rigs and production sites in an area the size of California might add .001 PPB CO2 to the atmosphere and melt all the ice and make all the polar bears drown! (/sarc)

[The Cajun]

Watch out, they'll probably find some rare stinking ice lizard living up there.