Interior Secretary Ken Salazar dismisses complaints on drilling permits

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday defended the pace of permitting of deep- and shallow-water drilling before the Senate Energy Committee and said that continued complaints amounted to nothing but Washington "noise." "I account for the noise that goes around this issue as simply the kind of noise that you see here in Washington, D.C.," Salazar said. The confrontation over permitting numbers came on a day in which the full Senate turned its attention to gas prices, oil company profits and energy policy, closing with Senate Democrats, on a 52-48 vote, falling short of winning the 60 votes needed to proceed with a bill to remove $21 billion in tax incentives and deductions for the five largest oil companies over the next 10 years. From the moment the administration imposed a moratorium on deepwater drilling in the aftermath of the BP oil spill last year, Gulf Coast lawmakers, especially form Louisiana, have attacked the moratorium, and, when it was lifted, what they came to call a "de facto moratorium," a "permitorium" or "slowmatorium." Salazar testified that the administration is determined to get back to drilling "in a way that's safe and protects the environment" and that "we are just not about talking the talk, we are about walking the walk in terms of drilling in our country."...more

"I account for the noise that goes around this issue as simply the kind of noise that you see here in Washington, D.C.," Salazar said.

That Salazar is really something. I mean the guy can actually see noise.

Now if he could only smell oil. I'm thinkin' he might be smellin' the local Coors brewery in a little over a year.