08/04/08 Interior Department Jumpstarts Oil

Interior Department Jumpstarts Oil. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. We have been hearing a lot about oil and natural gas lately. Not just the high price but the need to locate and produce more to quench our energy thirst. Last week Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne jumped into the fracas that began with the President lifting the ban on oil & gas leasing of the Outer Continental Shelf. KEMPTHORNE: It's apparent that we need to develop more domestic sources of energy, so in light of President Bush's removal of the Executive Ban on oil & gas leasing operations on the Outer Continental Shelf I'm directing the Minerals Management Service to begin preparation of a new 5-year offshore oil and gas lease program that could include energy development throughout the OCS. Kempthorne said that the landscape has changed since the original lease program was established. KEMPTHORNE: Clearly today's escalating prices and the widening gap between U.S. energy consumption and supply have changed the fundamental assumptions on which many of our decisions were based. Areas that were considered too expensive to develop a year ago are no longer necessarily out of reach based on improvements to technology and safety. Estimates show that the OCS could contain 18-billion barrels of oil and 76-trillion cubic feet of natural gas. KEMPTHORNE: Those numbers are considered conservative estimates because little exploration has been conducted in most of those areas for a quarter of a century because of the ban. Interiors estimates are based on available data, estimated tend to increase dramatically as technologies improve and exploration activities occur. Kempthorne also says that moving ahead now could have significant ramifications for the new president's administration. KEMPTHORNE: This initiative could provide a significant advantage for the incoming administration offering options it would not have otherwise had until at least 2010. Today's action would provide a 2-year head start for the next administration on developing a new 5-year program. Just as importantly, we're continuing to demonstrate our commitment to domestic energy production which should calm the market and continue to lower the price of oil. The initiative was printed in the Federal Register on Friday and the public may submit comments during the next 45 days by using Minerals Management Service' Public Connect online commenting system. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.