Facing an angry tsunami from oil companies, oil company employees and oil company servicers in the Gulf Coast, the Obama Administration is set to quickly reopen drilling sites in the Gulf.And there you are. Gotta get those new shallow-water drilling regs out so that people can make new wells. Why, I'm sure the new regulations will include all sorts of brand-new strict safety measures for wells that will be even closer to shore than the one currently spewing hundreds of thousands of gallons of crap into the Gulf to make sure people aren't hurt and our environment isn't in danger.
The Administration will release new safety requirements in the wake of a massive BP oil spill. After a rig blew up and sunk in April, a drillhole created by BP began leaking tens of thousands of barrels of oil into the sea off the coast of Louisiana.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the oil industry claims "each deepwater rig employs 180 to 280 workers, with each of those jobs supporting another four industry workers, for a total potential loss of more than 40,000 jobs. The moratorium 'will result in crippling job losses and significant economic impacts for the Gulf region.'"
The Journal adds:
The oil industry is awaiting new safety regulations from the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, which canceled some offshore drilling permits last week and has had others on hold since early May. Administration officials say new rules for shallow water oil and gas drilling could be released as soon as Tuesday.
It's not like the new regs will be the old regs with the words "please" attached to them, and it's not like pressure from the energy industry is forcing these regs be put out rather than taking the time to make the safest drilling possible in the wake of a man-made catastrophe that was caused by energy companies ignoring the existing regs.
Nope. I'm sure everything will be fine.
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4 comments:
Well shallow water is where we have the more experience. Think this through, I know it's hard.
Now I do agree that anything in the neighborhood as deep as the Deep Water Horizon was doing should be put on hold until we have all the answers.
Yes, when we're drilling in shallow water we won't have the weeks of suspense waiting for the oil spill to reach the shore! It'll be there immediately!
The alternative is $5 a gallon gas. Which one will do more damage to the economy? Choose.
Look if you want to live on Mars or *insert planet here* that's fine. I'll live here on Earth in the realm of reality where like it or not we are a fossil fuel reliant people.
"It was estimated by the Energy Information Administration that in 2007 primary sources of energy consisted of petroleum 36.0%, coal 27.4%, natural gas 23.0%, amounting to an 86.4% share for fossil fuels in primary energy consumption in the world."
Supply and demand, ever heard of it? We consume oil.
Now should we be looking for other avenues to generate energy? Yes.
Would cutting output of oil force us down those avenues quicker than if we keep drilling? Yes.
However being that liberals are more compassionate I would think you would be completely against that given the effect it would have on middle America. Doing so in the midst of a recession would be disastrous for everyone.
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