The new Director of Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (OEMRE) (sheesh!) Michael Bromwich said yesterday that the Obama Administration is looking at the possibility of ending the deep water drilling moratorium "significantly" earlier than the Nov. 30 expiration date. This is in response to the uproar from Gulf State lawmakers (most from the radicalized Republican Party) that it is killing jobs.
"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"
Head meet wall. Just when you think it cannot get more insane, it does. The moratorium that the Potus declared in response to the catastrophe in the GOM, has not halted the off-shore drilling plans by BP in Alaska. In today's NY Times there is a long piece about how the criminally negligent BP is forging ahead with the Liberty Project.
Three miles off Alaska's coast, BP is set to drill 2 miles under the sea and then farther horizontally (6-8 miles) to get to the 100 million barrel reservoir in US waters. Why you may ask hasn't this project been halted along with other off-shore oil-drilling moratoria? Because they gamed the system by building a 31 acre pile of rock and gravel, in 20+ feet of water, so they can call it onshore. BP long ago received the state and federal permits and has only to file it's final application. Plans are to start drilling this fall.
There's more below.
From AP:
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A federal judge in New Orleans has blocked a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects that was imposed in response to the massive Gulf oil spill.
The interior department:
"A second deepwater blowout could overwhelm the efforts to respond to the current disaster,"
I will update the diary with links in it as fast as I can.
Text of the ruling.
More than once in these posts I've cited the work of Times-Picayune business reporter Rebecca Mowbray. She is deeply knowledgeable in many of the industries that affect our state's economy, particularly energy and insurance. And this Sunday, she drove a stake through the heart of a simplistic talking point at the crossroads where those sectors meet.