Salazar News

Floating platform developer Gazelle Wind Power has appointed clean energy finance industry expert Álvaro Ortega as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).Ortega is the former Vice President of Finance at Avangrid Inc., a publicly traded company on the NY Stock Exchange and the U.S. subsidiary of global energy leader Iberdrola.“Finding someone with a track record like Álvaro’s is rare. Due to his financial expertise and passion for renewable energy, his joining the team is a home run for Gazelle as we enter an exciting phase in our company’s development,” said Gazelle CEO and Founder Jon Salazar.

At least 38 workers from Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela’s, including the president of maritime subsidiary PDV Marina, were detained on accusations of trafficking fuel, Venezuelan Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said on Saturday, describing the accusations as "treason."The move comes just days after other state officials were detained and amid a shakeup at PDVSA after President Nicolas Maduro last month named a committee to restructure the OPEC nation’s oil industry, which is struggling under U.S. sanctions designed to force Maduro’s ouster, as well as years of mismanagement, corruption, and declining cash flow.On Friday…

On July 3, 2018, the Port of Beaumont formalized the purchase of the former Chicago Bridge & Iron fabrication facility located at 850 Pine Street, Beaumont, Texas for $8.25 million. To facilitate the growth of the property, the Port of Beaumont has entered into a public-private partnership with Allegiant Industrial Island Park, LLC. Initial plans for the property, to be named Port of Beaumont Allegiant Island Park, include rehabilitation of the fabrication facility and paint shop, full rebuild of the docks, and upgrades to all utilities.

Commanding a submarine is arguably one of the toughest jobs in the world so training for the role it is justifiably challenging, preparing those who spend their days in the deep with the skills to lead their teams. Seven prospective undersea commanding officers from the United States Navy have joined their Australian colleages on the Submarine Command Course, conducted in Australia biennially. This year it coincided with a visit by the USS Oklahoma City, a Los Angeles class attack submarine, to Fleet Base West. Shortly after arriving in Australia, the officers toured their Australian host boat for the conduct of the exercise, HMAS Farncomb, which was also berthed alongside.

Congestion at the U.S. West Coast ports could take as much as two months to unwind, according to port and trade group officials, with retailers and other companies bracing for further shipment delays after the apparent resolution of a months-long labor dispute. A tentative labor agreement involving 29 ports was announced late on Friday involving 20,000 dockworkers. Tensions over their lack of a contract since July had led to chronic cargo backups. But port officials and companies warned it will take time to restore a normal flow of traffic. "It's not going to be fast," Jon Slangerup, chief executive officer of the Port of Long Beach, told CNBC television. The port slowdown has rippled through the U.S. economy including the retail, auto and agriculture sectors.

As part of President Obama’s comprehensive plan to move our economy toward domestic clean energy sources and cut carbon pollution, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau has held the nation’s first-ever competitive lease sale for renewable energy in federal waters. The provisional winner of the lease sale, which auctioned two leases for a Wind Energy Area of 164,750 acres offshore Rhode Island and Massachusetts for wind energy development, is Deepwater Wind New England, LLC. When built, these areas could generate enough combined energy to power more than one million homes. “When you think about the enormous energy potential that Atlantic wind holds, this is a major milestone for our nation,” said Secretary Jewell.

NOIA President Randall Luthi Comments on Pending Departure of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. “On behalf of the National Ocean Industries Association, I thank Secretary Salazar for his service and wish him the best on his return to Colorado. Owning a ranch in Wyoming myself, I can certainly understand the strong desire to leave Washington and return to running cows and calves instead of political gauntlets. The Secretary leaves a legacy that reflects strong leadership in the promotion of offshore wind resources and bolstering of certain safety protocols, but a missed opportunity to promote access in new offshore areas. He had a difficult…

Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salaza, launches review of the 2012 offshore drilling program in the Beaufort & Chukchi Seas. The expedited, high-level assessment of the 2012 offshore drilling program in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas is to review practices and identify challenges as well as lessons learned. The review, which is expected to be completed within 60 days, will pay special attention to challenges that Shell encountered in connection with certification of its containment vessel, the Arctic Challenger; the deployment of its containment dome; and operational issues associated with its two drilling rigs, the Noble Discoverer and the Kulluk.

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Director Jim Watson has announced that the Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee (OESC) will hold its sixth public meeting on Wednesday, January 9, 2013 and Thursday, January 10, 2013 in Washington, D.C. The OESC is a public federal advisory body including some of the nation’s leading scientific, engineering and technical experts. Chaired by former Sandia National Laboratory Director Dr. Tom Hunter, the group consists of members from federal agencies, the offshore oil and gas industry, academia, and nongovernmental organizations.

Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale Yields $133.8 Million in High Bids on Over 652,520 Acres, Only Latest in a Series of Recent Major Offshore Oil and Gas Sales. As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to continue to expand safe and responsible domestic energy production, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today held Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 229, which offered over 20 millions acres and attracted $133,767,074 in high bids for 116 tracts covering 652,522 acres on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore Texas. A total of 13 offshore energy companies submitted 131 bids.

As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau released the final details for an oil and gas lease sale that will offer more than 20 million acres offshore and will make available all unleased areas in the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 229, which will be held on November 28, 2012, in New Orleans, will build on two major Gulf of Mexico lease sales in the past year—a 21 million acre sale held last December and a 39 million acre sale held in June—and supports the Administration’s goal of continuing to increase domestic oil and gas production…

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau announced that BOEM will offer 38 million acres in the Central Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas exploration and development. Thesale will build on two major Gulf of Mexico lease sales in the last year – a 21 million acre sale held last December and a 39 million acre sale held in June. Proposed Lease Sale 227, scheduled to take place in New Orleans on March 20, 2013, will offer all unleased areas in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area, offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and could lead to the production of up to nearly a billion barrels of oil and nearly 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

MWCC to Deploy Capping Stack in Gulf of Mexico. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has initiated the first ever drill designed to deploy critical pieces of state-of-the-art well control equipment to the ultra-deep seabed of the Gulf of Mexico in an effort to exercise the oil and gas industry’s response to a potential subsea blowout. The multi-week exercise, launched at 8:10 am CDT and employing the Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC), is part of a series…

As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to expand safe and responsible domestic energy production, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau announce that BOEM will offer more than 20 million acres offshore Texas for oil and gas exploration and development in a lease sale that will include all available unleased areas in the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. Proposed Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 229, scheduled to take place in New Orleans on November 28, 2012, will be the first offshore sale under the Administration’s new Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five Year Program).

The 22nd License Round announced by Minister of Petroluem and Energy Ola Borten Moe includes as many as 72 blocks in the Barents Sea, several of them near the polar ice ridge, reports the 'Barents Observer'. And Norwegian Arctic drilling will not stop with the 22nd License Round. According to Borten Moe, his ministry is ready to take it all the way to the 84th latitude, the northernmost point in Norwegian waters. In his meeting this week with high-ranking international politicians, including U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, as well as a number of powerful oil company representatives, the Norwegian minister made it very clear what he intends to do in the area. For environmentalists, the signals from the Norwegian government are bad news.

The initiative was presented recently at the Arctic Energy Agenda , a meeting of top energy representatives from a number of countries and companies. At the meeting, the Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ola Borten Moe also presented key facts about the 22nd Norwegian License Round , which includes as many as 78 new blocks in the Barents Sea. “The expanding petroleum activities in the High North will be strengthened with the development of knowledge and new technology”, the minister says. “Our objective is that academic environments and industry in the North cooperate about the generation of knowledge linked with Arctic challenges”, he adds.

MWCC to Deploy Capping Stack for Exercise in the Gulf. As part of the Obama administration’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the oil and gas industry’s ability to respond in the event of a deepwater blowout and ensure that offshore oil and gas production can continue to expand safely and responsibly, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today charged the Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) with conducting a live drill this summer to deploy critical pieces of state-of-the-art well control equipment in the Gulf of Mexico.

New Orleans -- Today the Obama Administration provided final details for the Central Gulf of Mexico lease sale announced by President Obama in January 2012, as part of his administration’s ongoing focus on expanding safe and responsible production of our domestic energy sources. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau today announced the Final Notice of Sale for a June 20, 2012 lease sale that will make available all unleased areas in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area, offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, including 7,276 blocks on about 38.6 million acres. The sale will take place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

The U.S. lags behind Europe in the development of offshore wind (OSW) projects in part due to the lack of a mandatory national renewable energy standard and other tax incentives. But, the Obama Administration has set its own voluntary goal of producing 80% of the nation’s electricity from clean sources by 2035. And, various federal agencies have worked diligently to promote new sources of energy, including OSW and tidal and wave energy. This year, we anticipate the first new commercial leases for wind off the Atlantic Seaboard (since Cape Wind)…

James A. Watson IV, Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Named Rear Admiral James A. Watson IV as New Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) in November of 2011. BSEE was one of the two agencies to succeed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) on Oct. 1, 2011. Admiral Watson began as BSEE Director on December 1, 2011, and will succeed Michael R. Bromwich. Previously, Watson was better known to maritime stakeholders as the U.S.

Norfolk, Va. - As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau  announced that Interior is taking steps to assess the conventional and renewable energy resource potential in the Mid- and South Atlantic. The draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), released for public comment, will help inform future decisions about whether and, if so, where, leasing would be appropriate in these areas. This milestone advances BOEM’s regionally-tailored approach to Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) exploration and development…

Washington - The Department of the Interior is seeking input from industry to determine interest in oil and gas exploration off the coast of South-Central Alaska – a key step in the planning process for a potential oil and natural gas lease sale in the Cook Inlet Planning Area. This is the latest step by the Obama Administration toward production in Alaska’s offshore areas, and builds on broader steps to increase production in Alaska. “Today’s announcement is part of our commitment to increasing safe and responsible domestic oil and gas production as part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy for America,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

Albany  – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced that the U.S. Department of the Interior is set to designate the USS Slater, one of the remaining World War II naval ships and only destroyer escort afloat in the United States, as a National Historic Landmark. Since last year, Senator Gillibrand has urged Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior Ken Salazar and the National Park System (NPS) Advisory Board Landmarks Committee to designate the site as a National Historic Landmark. “This is great news,” said Gillibrand. “Berthed in the Hudson River, the USS Slater is the only World War II-era destroyer escort afloat in the United States. In her letter to U.S.