U.S. DOD feels a bit NIMBY about O&G in Eastern Gulf of Mexico

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

The U.S. Department of Defense reported to Congress that they really don't like the idea of offshore oil & gas in certain parts of Eastern Gulf of Mexico.

When I think about this, it probably wouldn't be the greatest idea anyway for military training to be done side by side with offshore oil rigs.

So the DOD is basically saying "Not In My Back Yard" to oil & gas only in certain limited places in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico that have long been used for military training and military exercises.  Fair enough.  Guns, bombs and torpedoes probably aren't a good mix with high pressure offshore oil platforms.

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DOD report suggests limits to oil, gas activity in eastern gulf

"The US Department of Defense considers the eastern Gulf of Mexico an irreplaceable national asset for developing and maintaining combat force readiness where sufficient surface limits and/or activity restrictions would need to be developed if oil and gas exploration and production was to be allowed there, DOD said in a May 9 report to leaders of two US House committees.

“The unique capabilities and infrastructure present in the region have been developed over decades through the investment of billions of taxpayer dollars and countless hours and countless hours of effort by federal, state, and private organizations and local citizens,” Undersecretary of Defense Michael D. Griffin told the Armed Services and Natural Resources committees’ chairmen and ranking minority members.

“No other area in the world provides the US military with ready access to a highly instrumented, network-connected, surrogate environment for military operations in the Northern Arabian Gulf and Indo-Pacific Theater,” he observed.

But if oil and gas operations were to extend east of the Military Mission Line without sufficient surface limitations and/or oil and gas activity restrictions on which the US Departments of Defense and the Interior mutually agreed, “military flexibility in the region would be lost and training activities would be severely affected,” Griffin warned." ...

[TraderTate + 186]

So how much oil and gas does this put at stake?

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

Article doesn't say.  Looks like whatever has already been off limits for O&G for decades will likely remain mostly off limits.