Gulf drilling moratorium: Take 2
Today the Obama administration announced a “new and improved” version of the Gulf oil drilling moratorium. This, after a federal district court, and a federal circuit court of appeals have both declined to immediately enforce the older version of the moratorium.
This time, though, things are different. Instead of placing the moratorium on all rigs drilling in over 500 feet of water, the moratorium applies to all rigs drilling in the Gulf.
Let me note here, that after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, all rigs in the Gulf were inspected by the government, and, except for two minor violations which were corrected, all rigs passed with flying colors.
The new moratorium will remain in place until November 30, in order to enable the commission, appointed by the president, to “investigate” the causes of the explosion. That would be the same commission that has no members that are drilling engineers, no members that are familiar with the construction of drilling rigs, but all members who have publicly taken a stance against drilling even before being appointed by the president.
So, it’s back to the courts again, starting from the beginning, to test the legality of the “new and improved” moratorium. That may not matter though as rigs are already leaving the Gulf because their owners are signing leases with other countries.
Meanwhile, Gulf oil drilling accounts for almost one third of the oil consumption in this country, accounts for 6% of our nation’s GDP, and, were that not enough, billions of dollars in royalties paid to the federal government. Perhaps the president’s commission can deal with those facts, too.
9 Comments
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Nice of the Øbamaroids to reduce our legal system to "keep throwing stuff against the wall until something sticks, and in the meantime, file an injunction."
Oh yeah. Bush was the bad guy. Sheesh!
These people have absolutely no regard for the rule of law. The appeals court in the 5th District should hold the Obama Administration in contempt of court. High crimes and misdemeanors? Think we're getting close.
What I cannot get out of my head is the scene I saw on tv of a school of porpoises. Those who were still alive were flailing in the throes of dying.
The new moratorium is a pause to make sure that the gas and oil companies have safety measures in place and are prepared to handle spills immediately.
Too much to ask?
They can insist on the application of "safety measures" immediately without a moratorium. Much less downtime and all the safety.
I reiterate: will these safety measures be applied to foreign oil drillers beyond U.S. territory (but not beyond ocean currents)? That is the big flaw in Øbama's plan. Or one of them.
If SOS and others writing on this subject would be in favor of a moratorium, then they would have to rethink the "Drill, baby drill" chant.
Why would we be in favor of cutting our own throats?
Cuba, in the meantime, is living the "drill, baby, drill" dream: leasing tracts of areas near the Florida Keys and the Gulf. To date, Cuba has leased 17 of 59 areas to oil and gas companies based in Spain, Norway, India, Malaysia, Venezuela, Vietnam and Brazil.
Moratorium, or just more drilling?
That was because of the things that BP was doing to get around offshore drilling bans. They did things like build a man made island so it is not considered off-shore. These were the type of things that Cheney and Halliburton winked at.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38429966/ns/us_news-e…
Glad all those inspections took place.
We don't need no stinkin moratoriums!