Ban on drilling over

by: Rachel Berger

Wed Oct 13, 2010 at 15:31:47 PM EDT

The Obama administration announced yesterday that the 6-month moratorium on deep water drilling in the Gulf was over, starting yesterday. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar’s announcement also noted that there were changes in the way Bureau Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (formerly the Minerals Management Service) work, in terms of oversight and inspection.

Is this good news? Bad news? On the one hand, this will bring back jobs to a region that needs them during a recession (or “jobless recovery”). On the other is reinforcing our dependence on oil and risking further degradation to the land. United Houma Nation, a Native American tribe living in Coastal Louisiana, faces the paradox of this situation. Their principal chief, Brenda Dardar-Robichaux, talks about the threat that coastal erosion from hurricanes and alterations that oil companies have made to the coastline have on their way of life but she also notes that many members of the Houma Nation work in the oil industry. You can read more of what she wrote here.

One thing is clear: we need oversight, regulations, and inspections from a government body with enough enforcement power to make sure that this kind of spill, the loss of human life, and the damage to economy and ecosystem never happens again.