The American Petroleum Institute (API) today issued the following statement regarding the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman to lift the moratorium on deepwater offshore drilling:
“We welcome Judge Feldman’s decision to lift the moratorium on deepwater operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
“The administration acted appropriately in its immediate steps to inspect every rig in the Gulf following the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Those inspections were necessary to assure Americans that offshore operations were safe and subject to appropriate oversight.
“In addition, the oil and natural gas industry took immediate steps to review practices and equipment to ensure safety and environmental protection, through the formation of two industry-wide task forces. The task forces provided important insights to the Department of Interior during its earliest examination of Gulf operations.
“Those task forces, and two recently created ones, are actively working to find ways to improve the safety of offshore operations, subsea well control and oil spill response. They should prove invaluable to the independent commission established by the president to investigate the Deepwater Horizon incident. Their work, and the work of the commission, will help ensure that deepwater oil and natural gas exploration and production is the safest and cleanest in the world.
“The moratorium was an initial reaction to concerns about the safety of offshore oil and natural gas operations. However, an extended moratorium would have a tremendous impact on the nation’s energy security – and cause significant harm to the region of the country that was already suffering from the spill – without raising safety or improving industry procedures.
“With this ruling, our industry and its people can get back to work to provide Americans with the energy they need, and do it safely and without harming the environment.”