They showed up at Louisiana State University's (LSU) the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's (ULL) Cajundome in droves, an estimated 15,000 thousand people who decided to stand up and be counted. They were energy workers, housewives, fishermen, and small-business people united in their desire to get back to work.

"I'm here because I'm worried," John Henry told an Associated Press reporter. "We're already slowing things down at work. If companies can't drill, it will get worse."

The administration's de facto moratorium on offshore drilling is threatening the jobs of tens of thousands of Gulf Coast workers. According to the LSU Center for Energy Studies, the offshore oil and natural gas industry and the companies that support it employ about 100,000 people in Louisiana alone. Add that to... more »

It's been three months since the Deepwater Horizon accident, and finally one new offshore drilling project has been approved.

According to government data updated daily, a shallow-water project has been OK'd under both of the new Notices to Lessees and Operators (NTLs) which contain new requirements.

As many offshore companies have learned, the new strictures on offshore drilling are quite daunting. NTL No. 2010-N05 requires the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of offshore companies to sign a statement guaranteeing that the operator is in compliance with all regulations under the threat of criminal prosecution. NTL No. 2010-N06 requires each operator to predict the likelihood of a blowout and calculate the worst-case discharge of oil and gas into the water.

In the wake of the Deepwater Hori... more »

Two separate studies indicate that tens of thousands of Gulf Coast jobs and billions of dollars in economic growth are likely to disappear as a result of the administration's deepwater drilling moratorium and the leaking well.

A report by Moody's Analytics shows the Gulf Coast region could lose 17,000 jobs and $1.2 billion in economic growth by the end of the year under a scenario in which the well is permanently shut-in in August. Under a worst-case scenario, the economic cost could reach $7.4 billion and more than 100,000 jobs could be lost if the well continues to leak and the moratorium lasts through December.

Marisa Di Natale of Moody's Analytics says Louisiana and Florida are likely to be the hardest hit. "We're talking about a very localized impact," she told reporters in a conferen... more »

Almost three-quarters of Americans oppose the administration's deepwater drilling ban, according to a new Bloomberg National Poll.

The poll, which was conducted July 9-12, found that 73 percent of Americans believe the moratorium is unnecessary, and they call the Deepwater Horizon tragedy a "freak accident."

Bloomberg reports the sentiment against the ban cuts across the political spectrum. 85 percent of Republicans oppose the drilling moratorium, as well as 73 percent of Independents and 65 percent of Democrats. Quoting one poll respondent, Ron Smallcomb of Mountaintop, Penn.: "This is crazy. If there's a plane crash you don't ground all the airlines and stop flying completely."

Most Americans also recognize that the tragedy was an accident. 80 percent of the respondents said BP should no... more »

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made good on his promise Monday and issued a new drilling moratorium. As he stated in a news release:

"I am basing my decision on evidence that grows every day of the industry's inability in the deepwater to contain a catastrophic blowout, respond to an oil spill, and to operate safely."

Of course, the moratorium will do nothing to improve the engineering and geological knowledge required to solve the immediate problem. It won't help the industry contain blowouts. It won't improve spill-response technology. And it won't encourage safer operations. But it will put tens of thousands of Americans out of work, reduce domestic oil and natural gas production and make the United States increasingly reliant on other countries for energy.

API President and CEO Jack Ge... more »