USA: NOIA Supports House Alternative 5 Year OCS Lease Plan

National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) President Randall Luthi sent the following letter to House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings in support of HR 6082, which would implement a new five year lease plan for developing the United States’ offshore energy resources over the next five years:

Dear Chairman Hastings:

“I write to express the support of the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) for your efforts to expand access to the outer continental shelf (OCS) for oil and gas exploration and development beyond what is offered under the Administration’s 2012-2017 Proposed Final Program (PFP) released on June 28. These efforts are critically important to the industry’s ability to add new jobs, new domestic supplies of oil and natural gas, and new revenues to federal and state treasuries.

“As we have stated before, NOIA believes a Five Year Leasing Plan is the most definitive policy action an Administration can take regarding our country’s offshore energy development. Because the federal government completely controls the vast resources of the outer continental shelf, the five year plan is a greater measurement of an administration’s policy decisions than current energy development seen in abundance on state and private lands elsewhere in this country, which are largely outside the scope of federal decision making. Consequently, NOIA is deeply disappointed that the PFP includes no access to any new areas of the OCS and believes that the PFP represents a tremendous missed opportunity.

“The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act requires that a proposed leasing plan be submitted to Congress and the President at least 60 days prior to it being considered final. We applaud your efforts to exercise this Congressional role by legislating additional access to the resources of the OCS. It is important to note that since this is a proposed final program, if no additional action is taken by Congress, the plan would mean that new access would not be considered until 2017 at the earliest.

Thank you for your leadership on facilitating greater access to the OCS. We believe unlocking access to new areas of the OCS will result in significantly important economic benefits to the industry and to the public.”

[mappress]
Press Release, July 18, 2012; Image: naturalresources