US Sec. of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld’s view of offshore exploration and development where military training occurs has become an issue in Washington, DC.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said a Nov. 30 letter from Rumsfeld to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) and Chief Minority Member Carl Levin (D-Mich.) indicates that oil and gas operations would be incompatible with defense activities in parts of the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Oil and gas trade associations dispute Nelson’s interpretation of Rumsfeld’s letter.
The letter said, “Areas east of the 86º 41" line in the Gulf of Mexico (commonly known as the ‘Military Mission Line’) are especially critical...due to the number and diversity of military training activities conducted there now and those planned for the future.”
Drilling structures and associated development would be incompatible with missile flights, low-flying drone aircraft, weapons testing and training, and other military activities in those areas, Rumsfeld told Warner and Levin.
Nelson, who is on the committee, said he sought Rumsfeld’s opinion after saying during Senate debate on energy bills that other lawmakers’ efforts to expand offshore oil and gas activity could disrupt military weapons testing and training.
The military training area’s western boundary, as defined by Rumsfeld, is 234 miles west of Tampa Bay, according to Nelson. He said some lawmakers are proposing a 150-mile buffer, which still would cut 84 miles into the military training area.
Nelson said he would keep fighting efforts to bring oil and gas drilling closer to Florida’s coasts. “We can’t allow the oil companies to undermine our national long-term defense interests,” he maintained.
‘Nothing new’
But the National Ocean Industries Association questioned Nelson’s interpretation. “Our basic point is that there’s really nothing new here,” spokesman Michael Kearns said.
He noted that the US Minerals Management Service and the offshore producers it regulates have worked with the US Coast Guard, the military, and others in using the region for some time. “There’s nothing new in the letter. It isn’t a change in policy,” he said.
“The area he refers to only overlaps with a small part of Lease Sale No. 81. If it’s an area of conflict, it’s a small one,” Kearns said. The letter does not indicate any new policy positions or call for a ban on eastern Gulf of Mexico oil and gas development, he said.
The Independent Petroleum Association of America said in a letter to the defense secretary that it does not consider offshore oil and gas activity in the eastern gulf incompatible with military training exercises.
“Today, offshore producers use the latest technology in order to decrease the number of wells needed for both exploration and development of oil and gas,” IPAA Pres. Barry Russell said. “In addition, through the use of subsea technology, many wellheads and other facilities are placed on the ocean floor rather than on the surface. This greatly reduces the visual impact of oil and gas platforms and minimizes the footprint production facilities would have on the area.”
Increased use of subsea tiebacks to central manifolds is probably the best example of technological improvements taking place in the offshore oil and gas business, according to Russell.
“All of these technologies allow our companies to reduce the footprint on the ocean surface, decrease the number of wells needed for exploration and production, while at the same time enhancing our protection of the ocean environment,” Russell told Rumsfeld.✦