Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones opened her remarks at the BOEMRE forum in Houston with one word – "Ditto."

Jones' pronouncement was spoken as an endorsement of the panel's unanimous position on the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who spoke earlier in the panel presentations, stated her position on the present deepwater moratorium. "We would like to see the moratorium ended as soon as possible," she said.

TexasRailroad

Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones hopes is critical of the CLEAR Act: “It is my hope that the bill will be amended if not killed in the Senate.”

The panel, which was the third of three prestigious groups who presented information to the BOEMRE, was made up of four elected officials from Texas who are involved with offshore drilling.

Lee said she believes there is a need to balance safety, environment, and industry, noting that R&D will be part of the solution. "We must press forward with new technology," she said.

Lee also stood up for the safety record of the oil and gas industry. "No one should challenge our commitment to the environment," she said, encouraging the federal government to "count us as allies." Her primary point was that the federal government should allow the oil and gas industry to help establish the new guidelines and regulations that will govern operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

"We can't count the industry out," Lee said. "We must count it in!"

Though BOEMRE Director Bromwich stated in no uncertain terms, "There is no de facto shallow-water moratorium,"Commissioner Jones shared her reservations in blindly trusting the director's statement. "That is in the eye of the beholder," she said. "It simply is what it is, and that is that the permits are moving very, very slowly. So the perception for many people is that it is effectively a moratorium caused by red tape."

Though the government might simply be acting "with an abundance of caution," Jones said the result is that the offshore industry is at a standstill. "These companies want to get to work and find energy," she said, but they are stymied by government inaction.

Jones also commented on the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act, which recently was passed by the House of Representatives. The Act, she said, could further restrict the state's ability to manage its offshore and inland resources.

One of the problems with the CLEAR Act is that it calls for federal oversight of all coastal waters seaward of the line of mean high tide. According to Jones, that demarcation practically puts the boundary at Texas' coastline. "I have great misgivings," Jones said.

In early August, Jones led an effort that passed a resolution condemning federal action that usurps the Texas Railroad Commission's jurisdiction in state waters, which extend 10.3 miles from shore.

"I have tremendous issues with that and with what it means," Jones said. "What I believe it means is that the jurisdiction of the federal government will trump the jurisdiction of the Railroad Commission to permit wells drilled in Texas waters and on Texas land."

That restriction (among other shortcomings of the Act) has Jones dead set against it. There are numerous reasons that the bill should be laid to rest, she said. "It is my hope that the bill will be amended if not killed in the Senate."

The Railroad Commission has been regulating oil and gas operations in state waters offshore Texas for more than 100 years, Jones said, and during that time has exercised "prudent management and stewardship" of the state's resources.

"We at the Railroad Commission have a good track record," Jones said. "Best practices know no depth."

Offshore