2010 United States deepwater drilling moratorium

Background

As a response to the disaster, on 30 April President Barack Obama ordered the federal government to hold the issuing of new offshore drilling leases until a review determined whether more safety systems were needed and authorized teams to investigate 29 oil rigs in the Gulf in an effort to determine the cause of the disaster.

On May 27 the United States Department of the Interior issued a press release stating that Salazar would issue a 6-month offshore drilling (below 500 ft of water) moratorium in the area. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar ordered immediate inspections of all deep-water operations in the Gulf of Mexico. An Outer Continental Shelf safety review board within the Department of the Interior is to provide recommendations for conducting drilling activities in the Gulf. In a May 30 announcement of the limitation Salazar said:

It was challenged by several drilling and oil services companies. The moratorium was to impact 33 deepwater drilling sites, less than 1% of the 3,600 oil and natural gas production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Local officials in Louisiana expressed concern that the moratorium imposed in response to the spill would further harm the economies of coastal communities as the oil industry employs about 58,000 Louisiana residents and has created another 260,000 oil-related jobs, accounting for about 17% of all Louisiana jobs.

Litigation

Main article: Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC v. Salazar

Soon after, Hornbeck Offshore Services, a company with financial interests in deepwater drilling, filed suit in the Eastern District of Louisiana District Court seeking an injunction to ban enforcement. Judge Martin Feldman issued a decision for Hornbeck on Tuesday, June 22, 2010, granting a preliminary injunction, barring enforcement of the order.

The White House appealed the injunction. On July 8 the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans, ruled against a stay of injunction, saying the administration failed to show how it would be irreparably harmed if the stay was not granted. The court also said that the administration also "made no showing that there is any likelihood that drilling activities will be resumed pending appeal."

Salazar has indicated that the Department of the Interior will "issue a new order in the coming days that eliminates any doubt that a moratorium is needed, appropriate, and within our authorities."

Further steps

The Obama administration assembled a panel to advise his administration on how to address offshore drilling in the wake of the spill. The group have stated that Salazar's May 27 report to Obama portrayed their approval of the moratorium, they claim that the panel reviewed a previous draft of the document with bans only on new drilling in water deeper than 1,000 feet.

On 30 June, Salazar said that "he is working very hard to finalize a new offshore drilling moratorium". Michael Bromwich, the head of the newly created Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, said that a record of "bad performance, deadly performance" by an oil company should be considered "a relevant factor" for the government when it decides if that company should be awarded future drilling leases.

The ban was lifted in October 2010, but by February 2011 no one had received a permit to drill because those applying had to prove the ability to contain a spill. A group that included Exxon had developed a system with this capability.

In July 2011 The Heritage Foundation's Robert Bluey reported at Scribe that deepwater drilling permits were down 71% from their historical monthly average of 5.9 permits per month, while shallow-water permits were off 34% from their historical 7.1 monthly average permits.

References

References

1. (1 May 2010). "New Offshore Oil Drilling Must Have Safeguards, Obama Says".
2. CBS/AP. (29 April 2010). "Oil Spill Reaches Mississippi River". CBS News.
3. (May 27, 2010). "Salazar Calls for New Safety Measures for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations; Orders Six Month Moratorium on Deepwater Drilling". DOI.
4. (24 June 2010). "Judge denies stay in moratorium ruling". NHST Media Group.
5. (30 April 2010). "Congress calls Halliburton on Macondo". NHST Media Group.
6. (May 30, 2010). "Interior Issues Directive to Guide Safe, Six-Month Moratorium on Deepwater Drilling". DOI.
7. Kunzelman, Michael. (June 22, 2010). "Judge lifts offshore drilling ban as 'overbearing'".
8. (24 May 2010). "Despite BP oil spill, Louisiana still loves Big Oil". The Christian Science Monitor.
9. (July 9, 2010). "Court refuses stay on drilling ban". NHST Media Group.
10. Rickard, Mary and Jeremy Pelofsky [https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1416392020100623?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews Obama administration to issue new drilling moratorium.] ''Reuters'' June 22, 2010.
11. "Hearing on Drilling Moratorium delayed".
12. "Advisers Cited by Salazar Say Drilling Ban is Bad Idea".
13. "Archived copy".
14. (30 June 2010). "Salazar prepping new deep-water drill ban". NHST Media Group.
15. (30 June 2010). "Lawmaker wants 7-year BP lease ban". NHST Media Group.
16. Kahn, Chris. (February 28, 2011). "Oil spill stopper unveiled".
17. Bluey, ROb. {{unfit