A new drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico was issued Monday by the Obama administration. Last month a federal court judge overturned the first deep water drilling moratorium. Interior secretary Ken Salazar vowed to come back with an additional one courts would accept. The first deep water drilling moratorium singled out drilling for oil at any kind of depths of 500 feet or more. The new drilling moratorium disregards depth and focuses only on drilling scenarios and know-how. The 2010 oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico dumped an estimated 140 million gallons of crude into the sea.

Resource for this article: New drilling moratorium issued as first drilling rig leaves gulf

New drilling moratorium applies to all depths

Last week, a federal appeals court rejected an appeal by the interior department to restore its original offshore deep-water drilling moratorium, which halted the approval of any new permits for deep-water projects and suspended drilling on 33 exploratory wells. According to the Washington Post, Salazar made the announcement Monday, arguing that a drilling moratorium is nevertheless needed to ensure that oil and gas companies implement safety actions to cut back risks - and are prepared to manage oil spills. Unlike the first moratorium, which applied to drilling rigs in waters of more than 500 feet, the new one applies to any deep-water floating facility with drilling activities.

At risk seems to be oil drilling jobs

Through Nov. 30, the new moratorium will last. Some permits could be allowed before then if drillers prove safety actions have been taken. Meanwhile, a New Orleans business group said the economic damage from a drilling moratorium would be worse than the toll taken by the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico 2010. According to Business Week Michael Hecht of Greater New Orleans Inc. told the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill and Offshore Drilling at a hearing the six-month drilling ban may affect as many as 24,000 oil drilling jobs in Louisiana. Hecht intended that the economic impact from the BP oil spill would be dwarfed by the impact from the moratorium.

Companies that do oil drilling aren't trusted

Salazar disagrees with Hecht's assessment of the outcome. In a statement Salazar said "A pause on deepwater drilling is essential and appropriate to protect communities, coasts, and wildlife from the risks that deep water drilling currently poses. I'm basing my decision on evidence that grows every day of the industry's inability within the deep water to contain a catastrophic blowout, respond to an oil spill and to operate safely."

First drilling rig leaves the gulf

At the national commission hearing, the CEO of a service provider for offshore drillers said drilling rigs are going to have to leave the Gulf because of the drilling moratorium. So far, one has proven right. According to the Houston Chronicle, on July 9 Diamond Offshore announced that its Ocean Endeavor drilling rig will leave the Gulf of Mexico and move to Egyptian waters right away — making it the first to abandon the gulf within the wake of the BP oil spill and also the drilling moratorium being tested within the courts.

More information about this topic at these websites:

Washington Post

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/12/AR2010071203003.html?hpid=topnews

businessweek.com

businessweek.com/news/2010-07-12/economic-damage-of-drilling-ban-to-dwarf-oil-spill-hecht-says.html

Houston Chronicle

chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7101738.html