The Cost of the Deepwater Moratorium

The Obama Administration's moratorium on deepwater exploration and development will cost America 12,000 jobs and approximately $2.1 billion over the first six-months according to a new study by Joseph R. Mason of Louisiana State University.

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These costs are completely independent of the costs caused by the oil spill and cleanup. These are the costs of the moratorium the Administration imposed after the spill. Mason explains: Halting all offshore deepwater drilling in response to a likely low-probability event serves neither to address the root causes of the accident, nor to aid in the economic rehabilitation of the Gulf region. Indeed, a moratorium on offshore drilling would result in billions in additional lost economic activity in the Gulf. The following table summarizes Mason's findings. It shows that the Gulf area alone could lose $2.1 billion in economic activity, over 8,000 jobs, half a billion dollars in wages, and nearly $100 million in lost tax revenue. This moratorium is causing great economic harm on the Gulf and is compounding the problems caused by the spill. Already two deepwater rigs have left the Gulf to move to countries like Egypt and Congo where they will be able to explore for oil This economically destructive moratorium is just one more example of the Obama Administration paying little heed to affordable energy. The complete study is available here.

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