TFI praises oil and gas drilling plan

Washington-The Fertilizer Institute last week praised the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) for releasing a plan to increase oil and natural gas drilling in federal waters through 2012. The plan includes extending oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico south of an area known as Lease Sale 181. It also includes expanding oil and natural gas drilling near Bristol Bay in Alaska’s North Aleutian Basin and in federal waters off the coast of Virginia. TFI worked with other groups last year to pass legislation to rescind a 25-year ban on drilling off the coast of Florida. The legislation, which became law, is expected to redistribute $170 billion in federal royalties to states from the federal treasury. “TFI will continue to urge the agency to make more acreage in the Outer Continental Shelf available for development,” said TFI President Ford West. “However, that power ultimately lies with Congress, and Congress continues to keep more than 80 percent of the OCS off limits to drilling.”