In light of the Gulf Coast oil spill, the world is now waiting with baited breath to find out: has British Petroleum finally done it? Will the new containment cap reportedly in place work to halt — or even largely halt — the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history?
Hopes are raised but the operative question is whether they will be dashed again?
And will a new, presumably court-friendly moratorium on deepwater oil and natural gas projects work this time or will it again be nixed by judges?
BP appears to have placed a new containment cap on its well in the Gulf of Mexico that’s been leaking oil since an explosion and fire April 20. BP hopes the new cap will be able to completely contain the gushing oil, but tests are still needed to determine its effectiveness.
Earlier Monday, the U.S. Interior Department said Monday it was issuing a new moratorium order in a second effort to block deepwater oil and natural gas projects.
The new moratorium is to “protect communities, coasts, and wildlife” while oil and gas companies implement safety measures to reduce the risks of blowouts and oil spills associated with deepwater drilling, the government said.
The ban will be in effect through November 30, 2010, or until Interior Secretary Ken Salazar determines that deepwater drilling operations can proceed safely.
“More than eighty days into the BP oil spill, a pause on deepwater drilling is essential and appropriate to protect communities, coasts, and wildlife from the risks that deepwater drilling currently pose,” Salazar said in a statement. “I am basing my decision on evidence that grows every day of the industry’s inability in the deepwater to contain a catastrophic blowout, respond to an oil spill, and to operate safely.”
Here’s CNN’s story on how this top should work:
The AP offers this report:
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.