Obama replaces drilling moratorium with de facto moratorium

New Year's Eve gas price

Drive around Chicago's northern suburbs and you'll find that regular gasoline is going for $3.30 a gallon or so.

With the White House attitude towards new oil drilling, expect gasoline prices to go higher.

From the Wall Street Journal:

More than two months after the Obama administration lifted its ban on drilling in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico, oil companies are still waiting for approval to drill the first new oil well there. Experts now expect the wait to continue until the second half of 2011, and perhaps into 2012.

More:

The impact of the delays goes beyond the oil industry. The Gulf coast economy has been hit hard by the slowdown in drilling activity, especially because the oil spill also hurt the region's fishing and tourism industries. The Obama administration in September estimated that 8,000 to 12,000 workers could lose their jobs temporarily as a result of the moratorium; some independent estimates have been much higher.

The slowdown also has long-term implications for U.S. oil production. The Energy Information Administration, the research arm of the Department of Energy, last month predicted that domestic offshore oil production will fall 13% this year from 2010 due to the moratorium and the slow return to drilling; a year ago, the agency predicted offshore production would rise 6% in 2011. The difference: a loss of about 220,000 barrels of oil a day.

Drilling in waters of less than 500 feet also has been snared by the government's increased scrutiny. Regulators requested modifications to 101 shallow-water drilling plans in 2010, compared with 59 such requests in 2009 and just 31 in 2008. Rig operators say drilling permits once approved in a matter of weeks have taken up to five months to process as the government introduced new rules.

Lonely Conservative discusses this topic as well, and adds a human element--the financial struggles of Louisiana business owner Tom Clements, which are the result of the drilling moratorium.

Why doesn't the Obama administration simply drop the charade and says it doesn't want any new oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico?

Related posts:

Wind farms a big flop during UK cold spell
Oil exploration: America is being left behind
$5-a-gallon gas coming?

Technorati tags: democrats oil economy Louisiana energy louisiana politics news business Obama Barack Obama environment Drill here, drill now