Executives from oil and gas companies on Monday concluded an hour-long meeting with U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar without securing promises from the government to lift a deepwater-drilling moratorium imposed after a disastrous BP PLC (BP) oil spill…
“Numerous operators told Secretary Salazar that they were in the final stages of moving rigs, deepwater rigs out of the Gulf of Mexico and to West Africa and the Middle East,” according to a person familiar with the matter. “We were frankly disappointed at the lack of serious attention that was paid by the Department of the Interior on the horrible economic impact that the Department of Interior’s policies are having on the industry and on communities along the Gulf Coast.”
While the oil spill is going to have a negative impact on the Gulf Coast region, the loss of jobs that states like Louisiana depend on adds insult to injury.
Barack Obama has accepted responsibility for the government’s response to the BP oil spill, independent voters are paying him back in-kind by turning away. A president that has touted the myth of “saved or created jobs” is looking at a loss of probably hundreds, if not thousands of jobs, as a direct result of a government action.
