Obama to extend freeze on offshore oil permits

[ProSense]

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama will Thursday extend a moratorium on new deepwater drilling for six months, and unveil a major curtailment of the offshore oil industry, after a review of the Gulf disaster.

The president will also announce that planned exploration off the Alaska coast in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas will be delayed pending a presidential commission into deepwater offshore drilling, a White House aide said.

In addition, a planned August lease sale of drilling rights in the Western Gulf will be cancelled and a lease sale off the coast of Virginia will also be scotched, due to environmental concerns and Defense Department input.

<...>

Obama, who will formally announce the steps in a White House press conference later Thursday, was briefed on the initial report into the disaster by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in the Oval Office on Wednesday night.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100527/ts_afp/usoilpollutionenvironmentobama_20100527120929

[Go2Peace]

1. Not a bad thing

But it would be better to make decisions like this in wisdom *before* tragedy, instead of reacting politically afterwards.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Seven New Offshore Drilling Permits Issued Since "Moratorium" Began

Five of these had environmental review waived.

This "moratorium" is just more pretending.

[dgibby]

3. Good. nt

[joanmj]

4. Good!

[FarCenter]

5. We can't afford to stop drilling offshore for long - we already have a $500 Billion/yr trade deficit

We can't afford to borrow more money from other countries in order to replace offshore oil with more imports.

[joanmj]

6. we can't "afford"

another spill...