US halts new offshore oil drilling amid Gulf rig investigation

30 April 2010 16:21  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--The US government will prohibit any new offshore oil drilling until it better understands the cause of the oil spill from the BP-operated sunken Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, a top adviser to President Barack Obama said on Friday.

“No additional drilling has been authorised and none will until we find out what happened here,” said David Axelrod, who spoke on ABC’s Good Morning America television show.

The halt on drilling came a month after the Obama administration announced plans to open up much of the US east coast to oil and natural gas drilling, a move that drew praise from the petroleum industry but criticism from biofuels makers and environmental groups.

Earlier, a White House spokesman said the oil spill could lead to Obama potentially changing his stance on the legislation, according to news reports. That development was an encouraging sign to US environmental groups.

“We are pleased that the White House is signalling a suspension of any new offshore drilling during the investigation, but there should be no doubt left that drilling is too dirty and dangerous for our coasts and the people who live there,” said Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune.

“The same disaster could happen at any one of the hundreds of drilling platforms off our coasts, at any moment,” he added. “It could happen at the drilling sites they’ve proposed opening along the beaches of the Atlantic coast. We don’t need to pay this price for energy.”

The Sierra Club pointed to available clean energy sources, which it said would end dependence on fossil fuels.

Reports early on Friday said that oil spilled from the Gulf of Mexico rig had already reached the US shore, threatening marshlands and wildlife along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

The US government announced a state of emergency, and Obama told BP it was ultimately responsible for the cleaning-up costs.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) declined to comment.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) did not immediately return a request for comment. It had issued statements supporting the pro-drilling initiative.

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By: Ben DuBose
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