“Protests from Experts show Drilling Moratorium based on Politics, not Science”

New Orleans Times-Picayune
Editorial
Friday, June 11, 2010

“…Eight of the 15 members of the review panel are charging that the administration misrepresented their position by suggesting they supported a blanket moratorium that they actually oppose. Their criticism, and the administration’s response, are evidence that the six-month stoppage is based on politics rather than on science.

That’s not how a decision that could wreck South Louisiana’s economy should have been made — and the president should reconsider it…

“A blanket moratorium is not the answer. It will not measurably reduce risks further and it will have a lasting impact on the nation’s economy which may be greater than that of the spill,” the experts wrote.

They are right…

Gov. Bobby Jindal on Thursday worried that the White House just doesn’t get it. He said that in a conference call, presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett ‘asked again why the rigs simply wouldn’t come back after six months … I fear they think these rigs can just flip a switch on and off.’

That would be a grave misunderstanding of how the industry works and of what’s at stake for Louisiana.

The Obama administration also is trying to frame the moratorium debate as a choice between the president’s six-month stoppage and re-starting drilling without any safety improvements. That’s a false choice, and the administration knows it…”

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