It's not enough to talk a good game. The administration's call for increased domestic oil and natural gas production isn't being matched in terms of granting access to the reserves that would yield the energy America needs now and in the future.

Since the government resumed issuing deepwater drilling permits in March, just 15 have been granted and just one in the past month - and some of those are previously granted permits that were suspended when the administration put a moratorium on drilling after last year's Macondo accident.

America needs a permitting pace that reflects its energy needs but is getting a snail's pace instead. API Upstream Director Erik Milito:

"The Interior Department is not doing enough to prepare our nation for a secure energy future, and its policies are harming ou... more »

The Interior Department isn't doing enough to prepare our nation for a secure energy future, and its policies are harming our economy and lessening the amount of revenue that our industry is producing for our government.

The administration acknowledges the importance of oil and natural gas in the nation's energy future. Its projections show they will supply most of our energy for several more decades even with strong growth in renewable energy. Yet the government's follow-through in fostering more domestic development raises questions about its commitment.

The fact is, oil and natural gas development on U.S. public lands and federal offshore waters remains on a very slow track.

Sure, the department has extended some Gulf leases, and it produced a supplemental environmental impact statemen... more »

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had some good things to say yesterday:

"Applications for federal permits to drill on public and American Indian lands are expected to increase by close to 50 percent, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday."

Yes! Absolutely yes! The oil and natural gas industry already invests heavily in America and stands ready to invest even more.

"He also said he expects his agency to approve more offshore drilling permits in the coming days."

Yes! Absolutely yes! It would be wonderful if the federal government would let us make that investment in America. But then the good news stopped as the secretary followed that with the administration's latest misinformation about oil and natural gas development...

"It's important for us to recognize that the inventory... more »

Last week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told Congress that oil production in the Gulf of Mexico "remained at an all-time high, and we expect that it will continue as we bring new production online." He claimed: "In 2009 there were 116 rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, in 2010 in February, 120, in February 2011, 126."

But Salazar's numbers distort the true number of working rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. According to Baker Hughes:

• Four days before the Deepwater Horizon accident there were 55 rotary rigs actually drilling offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
• On May 28, 2010, when the administration announced the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling, there were 46 rotary rigs operating in the Gulf.
• Last week, 25 rotary rigs were operating in the Gulf of Mexico.

So the fact that there is an "all... more »

The Interior Department isn't off the legal hook yet. Although it finally issued one deepwater drilling permit this week after months of delays, U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman has ordered it to act on two more permit applications, raising the total number to seven.

In a ruling last month, Judge Feldman gave the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEMRE) 30 days to take action on five deepwater applications. Yesterday he said two additional applications from Houston-based ATP Oil & Gas Corp. were included in his order.

API President and CEO Jack Gerard called the approval of the first application "welcome news," but warned that the slow pace of permitting could be dangerous to U.S. energy security and the economy:

"[T]ightening the screws on domestic oil and natural production du... more »