Former Interior Secretaries Offer Gulf Coast Advice, Oppose Drilling Moratorium

By Alexa Gitler - Talk Radio News Service

Former Interior Secretaries Gale Norton and Dirk Kempthorne told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that they strongly oppose a proposed temporary morartorium on drilling.

Both officials were appointed under the direction of the Bush administration and although neither has previously dealt with a disaster or an oil spill to the magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon, they each gave recommendations based on their past experiences on how the current Interior Secretary Ken Salazar should move forward and act.

“I hope Congress will follow the process that has served us so well and study what caused the accident and then adopt new or additional procedures, standards, laws and regulations, if needed on that basis,” Norton said. 

When asked whether or not the Obama Administration’s policy of a proposed temporary moratorium on drilling was a step in the right direction, they both expressed extreme opposition towards that notion.

“The gulf coast is being devastated, the result if a permanent moratorium is put in place you will further cause a disruption of the economy to the gulf coast states, when really they need to have a recovery,” said Kempthorne. 

Kempthorne, as a former governor, also stressed the importance of Congress and the Obama administration to work closely with the governors of the gulf coast states because they are known to be proven leaders and extremely passionate about their states and citizens.