President Obama's administration lifted the Moratorium on offshore drilling ahead of schedule but as usual, the oil industry, some Louisiana elected officials in and out side of congress and some in the business community who railed against the moratorium are still not satisfied. U.S.
Senator Mary Landrieu still refuses to relinquish her hold on the nomination of Jacob Lew to be director of the federal office of Management and Budget. A position so extreme that it completely changes what the Senator stands for.
Those people now say although the moratorium has been lifted there is a defacto moratorium because the new rules on offshore drilling permitting by the government are to restrictive for the rigs to be put in service timely. The oil industry has proved they will not be satisfied with any thing that has to do with regulation. They want to be free to do as they please. Those elected officials who opposed the moratorium are just as bad because they let the oil industry lobby money influence their decisions. Business people in general usually back the position of industry even when they are wrong.
The Obama administration has to carry through in making sure regulations are in place that truly regulate the oil industry and its cowboy attitude and operations, anything less is unacceptable. Keep in mind the oil industry has been operating offshore in shallow and deep waters for over 50 years and still do not have any system available to timely plug a offshore leak such as the BP one, nor do they have the system or people available to timely remove any spilled oil from the waters of the Gulf before that water reaches shore.
On the contrary several major oil companies recently announced they will have a system available in 18 months. In the mean time there could be more blow outs and leaking of oil. And this is the same industry who has assured the people for over 50 years they could handle any problems timely. The industry has not even earned the trust of its own people. That really says it all.
