CO see link at #14.
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Since we a little time to wait for the cmt results perhaps we can take a look at the politics involved and the continued economic impact on the economy of Louisiana. The following should irritate everyone whether you're for or against offshore drilling. It's about our govt playing all of us for fools. Not much in the news these days about the Deep Water moratorium the feds have been trying to implement. Way back in the beginning I pointed out that there was no need for an official moratorium if the feds wanted DW drilling to be suspended for a time. They could achieve the same results administratively if they so wanted. I'm going to skip the details of the permitting process...way to long and not important to understanding the lie.
The easiest way to show how the politicians are playing is to not even look at the DW situation. Let's focus on the shallow water (less than 500' water depth) drilling arena. The feds said they weren't going to impede drilling in those areas. Right! here's the publicly available numbers: shallow water drill permits approved in the three months prior to the BP blow out = 56. Permits approved in the 3 months after the blow out = 4. And 2 of those 4 were for wells to be sidetracked out of existing holes and thus weren't really new drills. An interesting point from the below article: "On top of that, one operator was told directly by a BOEMRE employee that he could not offer the slightest measure of flexibility in considering their permit application, as his job would be on the line if it came to light."
Forget the dishonest aspect of the situation. let's focus on the economy of Louisiana. The economic impact of the DW moratorium has already been covered in some detail: a loss of $12 - $15 billion in cash flow to local service companies (remember: the oil companies aren't losing any money by the moratorium) and as many as 40,000 lost jobs. But there are almost twice as many shallow water rigs in the GOM as there are DW rigs. We haven't begun to see the additional economic toll this will have on La. there is a time lag to consider. The shallow water wells drilling today had received their permits anywhere from 3 to 12 months before the BP accident. I can only guess but we should see the shallow water slump begin to slump in the next couple of months. And when the feds eventually start granted permits to pre-accident rates the turnaround will be very slow. Just like the DW rigs the SW water rigs are not just going to sit there and wait. There is an even greater demand overseas for shallow water rigs than DW rigs. Can't offer a guess but some percentage will be shipped overseas. And they won't be back for years.
Again, even if you're opposed to all offshore drilling you should be a tad upset at your govt for not being upfront about it. And, IMHO, this isn't even much of a PO issue. Sure, we'll lose some future production but that won't be the critical impact. It's going to be the economy and well being of the people of La. The neighbors to the eats, Alabama and Mississippi are well known for being two of the poorest states in the country. La. would rank right down there with them if it were not for the oil industry. everything has a price that must be paid. If we want to protect the offshore environment at all cost so be it. But it would be fair if the govt were honest and told the folks in La. that they were going to bear the brunt of that cost.
http://www.redstate.com/vladimir/2010/08/02/the-shallow-water-non-morato...