INDReporter

Obama to extend deepwater drilling moratorium

by Nathan Stubbs

President Obama is set to announce a six-month extension of a moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects, CBS News is reporting. President Obama is set to announce a six-month extension of a moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects, CBS News is reporting. The ban will  affect deep water projects planned off the coast of Alaska, the Western Gulf and off the coast of Virginia. The President plans to make the announcement today at an 11:45 press conference - his first since the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf - as well as outlining new oversight and safety standards. The new regulations are based on recommendations from a 30-day review of offshore drilling by the Interior Department. Deepwater projects will remain on hold as a separate Presidential commission delves further into what went wrong on the Deepwater Horizon. CBS reports:
The new announcements also could be an early sign of a fundamental shift in the administration's policies on offshore drilling, which Mr. Obama promoted and hoped to expand prior to the April 20 explosion of a drilling rig off the Gulf Coast. The accident killed 11 people and unleashed a gusher of crude that's now begun to wash up on land and cripple seabirds