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US imposes new freeze on deepwater drilling

Presidential commission probes BP oil spill
New Orleans, Louisiana (AFP) July 12, 2010 - A presidential commission officially launched its probe of the BP oil spill Monday at a public meeting in New Orleans as engineers worked to fit a new cap on the gushing well some 52 miles offshore. "I wish that we had the power to bring immediate solutions to stop the oil," said Senator Bob Graham, who co-chairs the seven-member commission. "We do promise to give our very best efforts to find out what is happening and the enormous consequences of this spill on the lives and the livelihood and the culture of the Gulf region." The independent commission is tasked with investigating the causes of the spill and the effectiveness of the response and making recommendations on ways to prevent future spills.

An estimated 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil has been gushing out of the ruptured wellhead since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon sank spectacularly on April 22 after a deadly explosion. Oil has washed up on beaches in all five Gulf states -- Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida -- closing fishing grounds and threatening scores of coastal communities with financial ruin. "Capping that well will give us an end," Rear Admiral Peter Neffenger, the deputy incident commander, told the commission. But with so much oil already in the Gulf, the cleanup and recovery operations are going to go on for quite some time, he said. "I don't know that I can put an outer bound on it."

There was little optimism in the room as the hearing got under way. "Even if BP caps this well tomorrow they've done so much damage to the Gulf it's a strange consolation plan," said Darwin Bond Graham, a sociologist studying how New Orleans has recovered from Hurricane Katrina. "We can't even see the end of it until that well is capped," said Ezra Boyd, who works with the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, which has spent years cleaning up the lake bordering New Orleans only to see it polluted again with oil from the BP spill. "It's pretty sad that residents made the sacrifices to save the lake but a big corporation can come around and with its reckless pursuit of profit set all that back for years."
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) July 12, 2010
The US government issued Monday a new moratorium on deepwater drilling until November 30 to ensure oil companies implement safety measures following the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

"More than 80 days into the BP oil spill, a pause on deepwater drilling is essential and appropriate to protect communities, coasts, and wildlife from the risks that deepwater drilling currently pose," said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in a statement.

"I am basing my decision on evidence that grows every day of the industry's inability in the deepwater to contain a catastrophic blowout, respond to an oil spill, and to operate safely."

The move comes days after an appeals court denied the government's emergency request to stay a federal judge's ruling to lift its previous six-month moratorium order.

The decision was immediately slammed by Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, who said it could lead to the loss of 120,000 jobs in the state and a "second economic disaster that has the potential to become greater than the first."

Landrieu insisted the offshore drilling industry is safe, and noted that 42,000 other wells have been drilled in the Gulf of Mexico's US waters without serious incidents.

"Obviously more effective regulations and greater transparency are a must, but this Deepwater Horizon incident is an exception and it should be treated as such," Landrieu told a presidential commission Monday probing the BP spill.

"I urge this commission to take immediate and swift action to immediately lift the moratorium."

Salazar had previously warned he would issue a new order to block deepwater drilling regardless of how the court ruled, as oil companies decided not to resume drilling due to the legal uncertainties.

The first moratorium was imposed after the deadly April 20 explosion on a BP-leased drilling rig sparked the worst environmental disaster in US history.

The new order, said the Interior Department, is supported by "an extensive record of existing and new information indicating that allowing new deepwater drilling to commence would pose a threat of serious, irreparable, or immediate harm or damage to the marine, coastal, and human environment."

Bill Reilly, the Republican co-chair of the commission, set up by President Barack Obama to probe the catastrophic spill, said he could understand why the industry and local officials would rather replace the blanket freeze with a process to impose greater scrutiny and grant approval on a case-by-case basis.

"Before we can recommend lifting the moratorium one would have to have a conviction that the kinds of concerns it intended to address have been met," Reilly said.

"It doesn't seem to me that we're in that position."

Oil companies with extensive operations in the Gulf, however, have warned of an exodus if the drilling remains suspended.

Some 33 rigs already operating in the Gulf were impacted by the freeze, ten of which are run by Diamond Offshore Drilling, and two of those rigs have already been redeployed to Egypt and West Africa, chief executive officer Larry Davidson told the commission, adding that a third would soon be leaving for Brazil.

"It is not possible for us to retain our assets idled," Davidson said, noting that many of the company's shallow water rigs have also been idled because customers cannot get permits.

Obama had acknowledged the moratorium would cause economic harm, but said such an order was necessary to give investigators adequate time to understand what caused the accident, and create the new safety regulations.

The suspension order Monday is to last until November 30 "or until such earlier time that the Secretary determines that deepwater drilling operations can proceed safely," said the department.

"I remain open to modifying the new deepwater drilling suspensions based on new information," said Salazar, but he added the oil and gas drilling industry "must raise the bar on its practices and answer fundamental questions about deepwater safety, blowout prevention and containment, and oil spill response."

The US Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy meanwhile slammed the move, saying it threatened 20,000 jobs in Louisiana alone.

The group's president Karen Harbert said 41 business organizations in the Gulf region had joined the Chamber in urging an end to the "moratorium on jobs and growth."

"While a renewed focus on safety, spill prevention and advanced technology should be aggressively pursued, keeping America's energy resources under lock and key is the wrong approach for our economy and for a more secure energy future," she said Monday after Salazar's announcement.



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