When 6 months equals 3 years.

Tonight President Obama called for a six month moratorium on deep-water offshore drilling to satisfy his base and received a big hurrah. But let’s look at this from a logical and realistic standpoint. First off, I think it is important that it be made clear that this is a tragedy and at this point still a crisis that needs to be handled with the maximum use of government and private resources.

President Obama wants to look tough and thorough in dealing with an issue that quite frankly should have been dealt with a little more seriously at least 50 days ago rather than on day 57. So rather than coming up with a plan to allow the oil industry to continue to function while the operating procedures of the industry are evaluated, the President calls for a moratorium of on the entire offshore drilling industry.

The President has the opportunity to appoint a commission of industry specialists, safety professionals and engineering scholars; however, he has gathered a group made up of environmentalists, legislators and other “experts” who have at best only a marginal background in the oil industry – Great. Just like the rest of his administration, this commission will be made up of individuals who are not necessarily in their field of expertise, but will once again be filled with cronies and Yes-Men who will follow the Obama agenda and fail to give the real analysis that is needed.

But let’s go back to this moratorium; tonight the President said he understands that this will negatively affect the region while the moratorium is in place, but let’s not hide from the truth. This moratorium will effectively negate the offshore drilling industry in the Gulf of Mexico region for at least the next three years, if not longer. Let’s be clear on this, the drilling rigs currently in use in the Gulf will leave and be moved to places like China or Africa where they will be able to drill.

There is no oil company that is going to pay for a rig to sit idle in the Gulf while they wait for the Obama Administration to remove the moratorium – they will go away. And once those rigs are moved to foreign shores they will stay there on location and not return until the move back to the Gulf is profitable; which is not likely to happen soon. If moving the rigs back is not profitable, then the gulf region will have to wait for new rigs to be built and at last estimate shipyards are about five years behind on the production on new oil rigs.

So let’s look at the financial impact of this decision. Anyone who works on those rigs will be out of a job unless they want to go overseas to work. All those individuals who are in the service and supply businesses will suffer. Transportation companies that supply the rigs with people and supplies will lose out on work. But most importantly to taxpaying citizens, the country will lose out on tax money and royalties that are paid by offshore drilling.

The premise for a moratorium is not lost on anyone; however, a moratorium that stops drilling effectively takes those rigs away from the Gulf and from the workers of the oil industry thus taking away jobs and a significant tax base from the American south. With a country suffering from an unemployment level already higher than the Obama Administration “experts” predicted following the passage of the stimulus bill, is it really a time to squash an industry that produces revenue to the government, fuel to the county, and jobs for our citizens? Probably not!

Sincerely,
Bill