Author Archives: Tom Moskitis

Tom Moskitis Regional meetings to obtain public input on OCS announced by DOI

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Tom Moskitis | Comments Off


The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced four regional meetings to obtain public input on energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Secretary Ken Salazar has extended the comment period for the proposed 2010-2015 OCS 5-Year Oil & Gas Leasing Program Plan until September 23, 2009 to gather more information before moving forward. It is critically important that the Secretary and his Department hear from supporters of energy exploration and production on the federal OCS. They are sure to hear from opponents! We encourage you and/or others in your company to attend and speak out at one of these meetings, perhaps making the following points:

  • Our economy and national security require less imported oil and more domestic energy production.
  • Natural Gas is our cleanest fossil fuel and its use is good for the environment and an answer to the challenge of climate change.
  • Abundant resources of natural gas exist on the federal OCS.
  • This gas can be found and produced cleanly and safely as proven by the offshore production industry’s outstanding safety record. The risk of environmental damage is very, very, small.
  • Coastal states should be able to decide on energy exploration and production off their coasts and share in production royalties.
  • The OCS offers the potential of some $1.7 Trillion in potential new revenues for federal, State and local governments, money that can be used to fund renewable energy, conservation, roads, schools and other critical programs.
  • OCS energy development will provide new jobs and an economic boost to coastal states and needed new supplies of clean natural gas for the nation.

Environmentally conscious countries all over the world explore offshore and safely produce oil and natural gas every day. Our country needs to get with the program and start producing more natural gas from our offshore waters. I hope that you will add your voice to the debate. More information is available here. You can leave your comments on the draft here.

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Tom Moskitis House Hearings Completed – Now What’s In Store for the OCS?

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Tom Moskitis | Comments Off


The House Committee on Natural Resources has concluded its series of three hearings on energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). True to his stated intention, Chairman Nick Rahall allowed both sides of the issue of energy development on the federal OCS to be put on the table. Environmentalists do not want OCS oil and gas exploration to be allowed to expand beyond where it already exists while energy production companies want access to as much of the OCS as possible.

Maybe Congress can find a happy medium between these views and include it as part of the energy legislation now being drafted in both chambers. That would be a big victory for American consumers as such a compromise would nevertheless open up new areas of great potential for new supplies of natural gas.

At the end of these hearings, I was left with the distinct impression that the question now is where, and under what conditions, to allow offshore energy exploration and production, and not if to allow it. Our position is made clear in a letter to Chairman Rahall from AGA President, David Parker.

Much depends, or at least should depend, on the position taken by coastal states. The legislatures of both North Carolina and South Carolina have established bicameral, and bipartisan, study committees on the OCS to gather input from the public and experts in the field in order to obtain a balanced perspective on the issue. An editorial by North Carolina state senator Bob Rucho in the “Charlotte Observer” presents a balanced viewpoint which I hope other state legislators would adopt as well.

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Tom Moskitis House Begins Series of OCS Hearings

Posted on February 13, 2009 by Tom Moskitis | Comments Off


The House Committee on Natural Resources began a series of oversight hearings designed to look at our current offshore drilling policy, and to determine where we may need to go next. This first hearing featured a panel of witnesses from environmental groups. Two additional hearings scheduled for later this month will feature witnesses from state governments and the oil and gas production industry.

Opening the hearing yesterday, Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV) told the environmentalists “I understand your desire to see the (oil and gas leasing) moratoria reinstated. However, we may be in a situation where the ship has already sailed.” Although he derided chants made at last year’s Republican National Convention to “drill, baby, drill,” Rahall stated that “the political reality may be that the moratoria, as we knew it, will not be reimposed.”

This did not sit well with the day’s two star witnesses, actor Ted Danson, a board member of conservationist group Oceana, and Philippe Cousteau, a board member of the Ocean Conservancy and grandson of famed ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau. They repeatedly spoke in opposition to ALL offshore oil and gas development, not just drilling in new areas, on the grounds that the products produced were fossil fuels that, when consumed, would increase the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is absorbed by the earth’s oceans, which then become more acidic, resulting in the death of all life in the sea. What?  I don’t know about you but this seems like it may be more science fiction than scientific. They were fine with the development of alternative energy on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), such as wind and harnessing tides and currents, so long as no environmental damage is done.

What do you think about all this? I think that with OPEC meeting next month to decide on steps to take to increase the price of oil, our country must aggressively develop all sources of energy, renewable, alternative and conventional. And this most emphatically means more exploration and production of clean natural gas from as much of the federal OCS as possible.

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Tom Moskitis Secretary Salazar takes objective approach to OCS

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Tom Moskitis | Comments Off


In an earlier posting I discussed how I was looking forward with cautious optimism toward how our new Secretary of the Interior would act following the expiration of the decades old ban on oil and gas leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Secretary Ken Salazar could have come out in favor of reinstating the OCS leasing bans or he could have scrapped the proposed 2010-2015 OCS Oil & Gas Leasing Plan and started over with a new plan.

But he did neither and instead has announced an extension of the comment period for the proposed new plan and a major effort to learn as much as possible about the energy potential of the federal OCS.

At a press conference on February 10, Secretary Salazar announced his strategy for developing an offshore energy plan that includes both conventional and renewable resources. His strategy includes expediting renewable energy rulemaking for the OCS, assembling  a detailed report from Interior agencies on conventional and renewable offshore energy resources and holding, within 30 days of the report’s publication, four regional conferences to review the report’s findings and to seek public comment.

Secretary Salazar will host one meeting in Alaska, one on the Pacific Coast, one on the Atlantic Coast and one on the Gulf Coast (dates and locations TBD.) He has also, as mentioned, extended the comment period on the proposed new 5-Year Plan for oil and gas leasing on the OCS by 180 days, until September 23, 2009. As you may know, one of the last action’s of the Bush Administration was the issuance of a proposed new 5-Year OCS oil and gas leasing plan to run from 2010 till 2015. The proposed plan included a deadline for public comment of March 23.

The Secretary’s action extends that deadline by six months. A copy of the statement from the Department of the Interior can be found here.

I think our Interior Secretary is taking a very objective approach to the OCS and I am encouraged. Secretary Salazar has said that he wants all interested parties to share their recommendations on how to move ahead with a comprehensive offshore energy plan. In that regard, AGA will be commenting on the plan and I urge you to be thinking about sending in comments as well and/or attending and speaking out at one of the upcoming regional conferences.

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