Two powerful interest groups used a Senate Small Business Committee hearing today to call for an end to the Obama administration’s moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
The state of Alaska filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration yesterday to overturn the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico because, Alaska Governor Sean Parnell argues, it has resulted in a de facto moratorium on drilling off the coast of Alaska.
Despite the best efforts of some environmentalists to argue that a fire on an offshore oil platform last week should cause the Obama administration to extend its moratorium on deepwater drilling, the nation’s lead offshore drilling regulator said yesterday that it would not affect the ban.
While President Obama may choose to end the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling a month early, it doesn’t look like we’ll see any new drilling until 2011, Bloomberg reports:
An amendment allowing companies to bypass the Obama administration’s deepwater drilling ban doesn’t go far enough for Republicans. Attached to the House oil spill response bill last week, the provision would green-light deepwater drilling for companies that meet certain safety requirements.
Washington Rep. Doc Hastings, ranking Republican on the More…
For environmentalists hoping that the new Democratic margins in Congress might lead to the return of a decades-old moratorium on offshore oil drilling — you might not want to hold your breath.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Tuesday that Democrats have no plans to reinstate the drilling More…
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