U.S. Gov’t Tries Again in Bid for Offshore Drilling Ban

Posted on Jul 12, 2010

AP / Gregory Bull

Not exactly the best publicity for BP: People raise their hands during a Hands Across the Sand event on June 26 in Gulfport, Miss.

After an earlier attempt at enforcing a moratorium on offshore oil drilling was struck down, the federal government released a revised version Monday. Given, you know, the whole Gulf of Mexico object lesson, finding a way to push this one through might be useful.

The New York Times:

The revised moratorium would allow some drilling rigs to resume operating under certain conditions. To qualify, the rig’s owners must prove that they have adequate plans in place to quickly shut down an out-of-control well, that the blowout preventers atop the wells it drills have passed rigorous new tests, and that sufficient cleanup resources are on hand in case of a spill. Industry officials said it would be difficult to meet those conditions quickly and that the restrictions would threaten the jobs of thousands of rig workers.

The original moratorium, struck down late last month by a federal judge in New Orleans, halted work on 33 wells being drilled in deep water in the gulf.

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