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Obama Administration will try to reinstate deepwater drilling ban
President Obama speaks following a meeting in the Cabinet Room -- June 22, 2010.
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TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: The Obama Administration is quickly regrouping to try to get its moratorium on deepwater drilling reinstated. Yesterday, a Louisiana judge overturned the six-month moratorium, saying it was too broad. Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman reports this debate could go on for months.
Mitchell Hartman: The judge said the administration's temporary ban on exploratory drilling wasn't justified and could harm the economy of the Gulf region. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will be on Capitol Hill today explaining to Senators why it is sound and necessary to allow time to study what went wrong with the BP spill, and make sure future drilling is safe for workers and the environment.
Barbara Shook of the Energy Intelligence Group, a research outfit in Houston, says the moratorium is widely unpopular. Especially among the tens of thousands of oil workers who are involved in drilling operations that haven't had safety problems.
Barbara Shook: I think it would be a big benefit if a blanket moratorium is withdrawn. But I think because of the egos involved it won't be. This just adds to the uncertainty and draws the whole thing out.
And as the oil spill and its damage drag out, BP has announced that it has handed over responsibility for the spill to its local U.S. boss.
I'm Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.
I think it seems strange that in times of a catastrophic event such as this Gulf Oil Spill, that people are more concerned with earning a pay check than they are with staying alive and being healthy. If you're going to die from methane gas or contamination of some sort, what good is a paycheck going to do for you? It's really just the investors who own stock that are concerned about the moratorium on drilling. It's not the guy working on the rig or the guy who is fishing in the gulf. The guys on the rigs can find other jobs on other rigs all over the world. As usual, it's about the money! The investors are only looking out for themselves and Judge Feldman is one of them. Shame on you Judge Feldman!! You have no business being a Judge with such a selfish narrow field of vision.
