Salazar: Adjustments Could Be Made To Drilling Moratorium

23rd Jun 2010 17:58

By Tennille Tracy Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--After vowing to re-impose a moratorium on deepwater drilling, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday the Obama administration might be willing to make adjustments to the moratorium if it determines that certain types of activities are safe. "As we move forward and learn from this disaster in the Gulf, there may be adjustments that could be made," Salazar said during a Senate Appropriations Committee subcommittee hearing. Salazar's comments were in response to questions from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from oil-rich Alaska, who wanted to know whether the administration would be willing to lift the moratorium on certain leases or certain types of drilling activities prior to the end of the moratorium. "Is it accurate for me to believe that you are leaving some latitude, prior to the termination of the moratorium [that] would allow some leases to come back online when you have an opportunity to review them?" Murkowski said. Salazar declined to commit to conducting a case-by-case basis review of the moratorium, but said the administration was in the process of looking at the issue. He said any decision to lift the moratorium would hinge on the administration's ability to confirm its safety. -By Tennille Tracy, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6619; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 23, 2010 12:58 ET (16:58 GMT)