The reduced number of shallow-water oil drilling permits issued by the government could place as many as 40,000 jobs at risk and cost the region $4.3 billion in lost wages and revenues.

By Matt Cover at Human Events

EXCERPTS:

“We’re talking about a significant loss of income to a number of Gulf Coast communities whose livelihoods depend on an active oil and gas operation on the Gulf Coast,” Dr. Bernard Weinstein, the author of the study, told CNSNews.com.

“[D]espite the official removal of the limitation on shallow-water operations, the rate at which the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) now issues permits authorizing drilling of new shallow-water wells has slowed markedly in comparison to pre-April 20th levels,” the study says.

“If the bans remain in place much longer, additional exploration and production will move overseas, destroying thousands of high wage American jobs while weakening the nation’s economic and national security as larger quantities of fossil fuels are imported,” reads the report.  “And as more rigs relocate to other countries, the U.S. risks losing its global technical leadership in offshore drilling, just as has occurred with nuclear energy.”

FULL STORY

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