The Interior Department's former offshore drilling chief today blasted House Republicans for continuing to investigate the drafting of an agency report issued in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, rather than focusing on substantive safety reforms that could prevent another oil spill.

Michael Bromwich, who spoke on a panel today at the National Press Club, also said development in the Gulf of Mexico has increased significantly and that industry appears confident in the region's future.

His optimism was countered by another panel member, Bernard Weinstein, a professor at Southern Methodist University, who said regulatory delays and uncertainty continues to bog down investment.

But Bromwich, who served as director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement after overhauling the agency's now-defunct Minerals Management Service, said he is "troubled" at how quickly memories of the Macondo spill have faded, particularly among members of Congress.

"We're in a political season, which means we're in a silly season," Bromwich said, referring to the House Natural Resources Committee probe and a slew of House-passed bills designed to accelerate permitting.

"It's a shame they are focusing on the two-year investigation on the editing of a document that had no impact" on the agency's decision to impose a post-spill drilling moratorium, he said.

His comments come days after the committee authorized Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) to issue a third round of subpoenas to at least a handful of mid-level Interior officials believed to be involved in drafting a May 2010 report that mistakenly suggested the moratorium had been endorsed by a panel of independent engineers.

Hastings has said he wants to find out whether the White House intentionally distorted the engineers' position as political cover for the moratorium.

Bromwich said the moratorium decision was the administration's alone, and that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar did not rely on the report in deciding weeks later to reimpose the moratorium after the first one was thrown out by a federal judge.

He added that it is "bizarre" that committee Republicans rejected Salazar's offer to testify on behalf of five agency officials Hastings had invited to be witnesses. The chairman canceled the hearing, and a committee spokesperson has neither confirmed nor denied Salazar's offer.

Speaking about Congress more broadly, Bromwich said it is "truly regrettable" that legislation has not been passed to implement any post-spill safety reforms.

While Congress has significantly boosted agency funding, it has yet to codify safety reforms or raise the oil spill liability cap or fines for safety violations, as proposed by the Obama administration, many Democrats and a presidential spill commission.

While he acknowledged the funding boost, Bromwich said flat appropriations will fail to keep pace with an expected surge in Gulf development.

While oil production in the Gulf dropped significantly in 2011, due in large part to the moratorium, economists at the Energy Information Administration predict Gulf output could expand from 1.3 million barrels a day in 2011 to as much as 2 million barrels a day by 2020, depending on market conditions.

"No one can deny that the future looks very bright," Bromwich said, noting an "extraordinarily successful" lease sale in June in the central and western Gulf that generated $1.7 billion in high bids (E&ENews PM, June 20).

"I think those are clearly reflections in the confidence industry has in the future of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico," he said.

But Weinstein, who is associate director of the university's Maguire Energy Institute, said industry continues to wait significantly longer for approved exploration plans and that the inventory of available drilling permits could hamper companies' ability to secure long-term rig contracts.

"Why aren't more rigs currently operating in the Gulf of Mexico?" said Weinstein, who published his findings in a report last May (Greenwire, May 30). "I think one of the reasons is the current regulatory regime."

Weinstein said the average time to receive an exploration plan has increased from 50 days before the spill to more than 200 days, largely because of the additional time it takes for regulators to deem an application "submitted." In addition, he said drilling permits continue to be submitted in a "just in time" basis, meaning companies lack the certainty they need to lock down rigs that cost upward of half-a-million dollars a day to lease.

By most accounts, activity in the Gulf has significantly increased, and government and outside experts have forecast continued growth. The latest indication was a report released this week by analysts at the energy industry research arm of a major accounting and consulting firm.

In its new midyear assessment of merger and acquisition activity in oil and gas, analysts at the Deloitte Center for Energy Solutions said there was a "surge" of Gulf activity in the first half of 2012 compared to 2011. There are now roughly 40 rigs in the water, matching pre-Macondo levels.

"We are seeing a pickup in activity," said Jim Dillavou of Deloitte. "Permitting is not an easy process now, but companies are confident that activity will continue and projects will get done."

Deloitte's Roger Ihne said the Gulf is still "one of the best places in the world to invest."