Office of the Secretary

DNR Secretary Angelle Statement on Meeting with BOEM Director Bromwich

BATON ROUGE – Today, DNR Secretary Scott Angelle and members of the Back to Work Coalition met with Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Michael Bromwich and staff to continue the discussion of the top three obstacles affecting the issuance of new deepwater drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico. 

 As the state’s liaison between the offshore oil and gas industry and the federal government, Angelle is leading the effort to bring a return to responsible exploration and the job and economic stability that come with it.  Through the establishment of the Back to Work Coalition, a group of industry representatives facilitated by the Gulf Economic Survival Team (GEST), Angelle has presented a unified voice to Director Bromwich and BOEM officials in order to create a clearer roadmap for resumption of normal Gulf exploration operations. 

 “Today’s meeting with Director Bromwich, our third in two weeks, was aimed at working through the final three issues impeding the issuance of deepwater drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico.  We had productive discussion on revisions to the Interim Final Drilling Safety Rule, the environmental assessment process, and the incorporation of the progress being made by the Marine Well Containment Company and by Helix Energy Solutions Group on containment technology. 

 “We will continue to work our ground game grinding out the tough issues. We identified our list of actions that need to be taken.  We were constructive and we worked to ask the appropriate, but tough questions that will hold BOEM accountable and will lead the industry to the first new permits issued in almost a year.

 “Director Bromwich also assured us that despite the reorganization efforts taking place at the BOEM, our efforts to work through the permitting process will not lose momentum.

"We believe that the issues affecting the 16 wells identified by BOEM’s January 3 letter have been narrowed down to two and those wells should be positioned to obtain approvals in the near future.  Director Bromwich stated that the final obstacles to the permitting process for these wells include compliance with NTL-10 and a decision on the Interim Final Rule. 

“Despite the progress made on the 16 wells named in the January 3 letter, we will continue to work the three outstanding issues for all other permits.  This is job number one for me as directed by Governor Jindal, and we will not quit until drilling operations resume and the people of the drilling industry are back to work. 

“The Back to Work Coalition and I are making plans to revisit these issues with Director Bromwich next week and we will continue to work diligently and constructively to address the final barriers standing between the industry and  new deepwater drilling permits.”