US Senate energy chief to 'go after' OCS bans in wake of Katrina

Washington (Platts)--6Sep2005

In light of disruptions in oil and natural gas supplies caused by
Hurricane Katrina, US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman
Pete Domenici (Republican-New Mexico) Tuesday said he plans to seek
legislation authorizing oil and gas development on portions of the Outer
Continental Shelf now closed to such activity. 
     "I'm going to go after OCS," Domenici told reporters outside
a hearing on gasoline. The chairman added that he would couple any such
proposal with one promoting energy conservation. "If we're going to do
anything [on OCS development], we have to say on the conservation side that
we're going to do something," he said. 
     Domenici's remarks drew a rebuke from Sen Mel Martinez
(Republican-Florida) who, like other officials in Florida, opposes oil and gas
drilling off his state's coast. "I am going to continue to oppose it with
everything I've got," Martinez told Platts. 
     He said advocates of ending the OCS moratoria were using the hurricane as
"an excuse" to achieve a goal that eluded them when Congress enacted the
Energy Policy Act of 2005. The primary energy problem facing the United States
because of Hurricane Katrina is loss of refinery capacity, not production, he
maintained.

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