The six-month moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico imposed by President Obama is causing economic havoc, particularly in the gulf states of Louisiana and Texas, but with 30 percent of our energy supply coming from the Gulf, it impacts every citizen of the United States.
According to Dr. Joseph R.Mason, Louisiana State University economist, the moratorium, which has been overturned by the 5th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, but subsequently reinstated by the Obama Administration, will cost $2.7 billion nationwide, including 8,169 jobs, $487 million in lost wages and $98 million in lost state tax revenues---mostly to Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi.
While those job numbers may not mean alot to us, for states crippled by hurricanes, loss of tourism, and shortened fishing seasons, these are huge job and economic losses. It would be like Boeing closing down in Washington.
Setting the deep water drilling aside (5,000 ft), this is an industry that has been operating quietly and safely since the Truman administration — 1949 to be precise. Over those 60-plus years, more than 46,000 wells have been drilled without incident in depths of less than 1,000 feet across the Gulf, says the Houston Chronicle.
According to the Shallow Water Energy Coalition, a grand total of 15 barrels of oil (yes, fifteen) has been spilled in the past 15 years. The worst spill, they say, was 10 barrels offshore Louisiana in March 2003.
The newly formed group fighting to remove the ban is Gulf Citizens United.
The Columbia Daily Tribune, Columbia, MS, editorial said it best: "Unless the feds can explain more fully why their moratorium is justified, it looks like a CYA tactic based more on politics than science. Whatever the rationale, the government should explain better with a goal of ending the moratorium sooner rather than later."
Don C. Brunell, President (DonB@awb.org)
