The Interior department has issued revised offshore drilling rules that are designed to replace the rules that were recently thrown out by the courts.
See New York Times story.
The revised moratorium would allow some drilling rigs to resume operating under certain conditions. To qualify, the rig’s owners must prove that they have adequate plans in place to quickly shut down an out-of-control well, that the blowout preventers atop the wells it drills have passed rigorous new tests, and that sufficient cleanup resources are on hand in case of a spill.
Those seem like some pretty strong rules. Hell, simply requiring owners to prove adequate plans for blowouts and sufficient cleanup resources should stop offshore drilling just by themselves.
Now, the question is: Will the new Minerals Management Service (whatever they're calling it now) have the teeth to implement and back up these changes?
Will this go back to court, to again be thrown out by an industry-friendly judge?
Of course, industry officials claim they are onerous and will cause drillers to be thrown out of their jobs.
I know this is kinda short, but I think the NYT story has all the details. So let's have a discussion.