Landrieu floats plan to lift drilling ban, create shared spill liability fund

[babylonsister]

Landrieu floats plan to lift drilling ban, create shared spill liability fund
By Ben Geman - 08/06/10 01:45 PM ET


Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) introduced legislation late Thursday that would lift the White House ban on deepwater drilling and create a shared insurance system among oil companies to cover damages from any future offshore spills.

Landrieu’s bill shows that several lawmakers negotiating over liability have not reached a final deal despite reporting progress — Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) on Friday circulated his own liability proposal that overlaps with Landrieu’s but is not identical.

Landrieu’s plan addresses liability as part of a much broader bill. She hopes to lift the six-month deepwater drilling ban for companies that are meeting recently issued Interior Department rig safety standards.

Her plan would also speed up payments to Gulf of Mexico states from offshore production royalties, altering the revenue-sharing timeline established in a 2006 law that handed these states a cut of the federal money.

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