Deepwater drilling set to resume; concerns still remain

Filed under: Etc., Legislation and Policy, Green Daily

Back in April, an oil rig positioned off Louisiana's coast called the Deepwater Horizon burst into flames and the rig sank into the sea. For months, clean-up crews worked to contain the mess and specialists were flown in to put a stop to the oil that spewed out at a tragic rate. In early May, President Obama announced that no additional deepwater drilling efforts would commence until this incident was fully investigated and measures to prevent the recurrence of such a disaster were in place.

Well, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, has determined that the day for deepwater drilling to resume is here. Salazar's announcement will concern many, but he's confident that additional measures required before drilling in deepwater will assure safe operation and prevent future disasters. The new safety measures include:

• Pursuant to applicable regulations, each operator must demonstrate that it has enforceable obligations that ensure that containment resources are available promptly in the event of a deepwater blowout, regardless of the company or operator involved. DOI has a process underway regarding the establishment of a mechanism relating to the availability of blowout containment resources, and Secretary Salazar said he expects that this mechanism will be implemented in the near future.

• That the CEO of each operator seeking to perform deepwater drilling certify to BOEM that the operator has complied with all regulations, including the new drilling safety rules.

Additional safety measures that could be implemented in the future include, redundant blind shear rams, remote activation systems for blowout preventers (BOPs), and enhanced instrumentation and sensors on BOPs. Information gleaned from ongoing investigations into the Deepwater Horizon disaster may also contribute to new rules that govern over offshore drilling efforts. One could easily argue that all of these additional safety measures, many of which won't be introduced for a few years, should be in place prior to the resumption of deepwater drilling, but apparently, some among us disagree.

[Source: Department of the Interior | Image: Uscglantareapa - C.C. License 2.0]

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Deepwater drilling set to resume; concerns still remain originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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