Gas prices are skyrocketing. What is the story with the drilling ban being lifted?

President Obama did "technically" lift the drilling ban 5 months ago, but no new drilling has taken place. He placed conditions on new drilling permits no one has been able to meet. The drilling ban lift was all for political show. You have to actually issue drilling permits to create jobs and add new petroleum to the supply chain.

Though The White House lifted the official moratorium on drilling last October, no new permits have so far been awarded by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, part of the US Interior Department. Officials are insisting that the industry must be able to clearly show that it has the capacity to contain an offshore spill before it grants any permits.

On Friday, Ken Salazar, the Interior Secretary, met in Houston with Marine Well Containment, a consortium from the oil and gas industry working on containment plans.

Federal Court on Obama Drilling Permit Delays: “unreasonable, unacceptable, and unjustified.”

Ouch!

(CNN/Money) — A federal court ordered the Obama administration Thursday to act on five deep water drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico within 30 days, calling the delays in issuing new decisions “unreasonable, unacceptable, and unjustified.”

In a case brought by the drilling company Ensco, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Judge Martin Feldmen ruled that the four to nine months the company has waited for a decision on the permits it has a stake in is simply too long.

New Orleans judge rules Obama administration in contempt over drilling ban

After the Gulf oil spill, the Obama administration instituted a drilling ban. The ban was overturned by the courts, but team Obama soon re-instituted another ban. The Obama administration clearly has contempt for laws and court ruling they disagree with.

The Obama Administration acted in contempt by continuing its deepwater-drilling moratorium after the policy was struck down, a New Orleans judge ruled.

Interior Department regulators acted with “determined disregard” by lifting and reinstituting a series of policy changes that restricted offshore drilling, following the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, U.S. District Judge, Martin Feldman of New Orleans ruled yesterday.

“Each step the government took following the court’s imposition of a preliminary injunction showcases its defiance,” Feldman said in the ruling.

“Such dismissive conduct, viewed in tandem with the re-imposition of a second blanket and substantively identical moratorium, and in light of the national importance of this case, provide this court with clear and convincing evidence of the government’s contempt,” Feldman said.

Read more at Bloomberg.

White House "Edited" Experts Report to Suggest Independent Group Supported Six-Month Drilling Ban

This should be shocking, but it isn't. The White house rewrote an independent panel of experts report to make it seem like they supported the White House's six-month drilling ban.

The Politico reported:

The White House rewrote crucial sections of an Interior Department report to suggest an independent group of scientists and engineers supported a six-month ban on offshore oil drilling, the Interior inspector general says in a new report.

In the wee hours of the morning of May 27, a staff member to White House energy adviser Carol Browner sent two edited versions of the department report’s executive summary back to Interior. The language had been changed to insinuate the seven-member panel of outside experts – who reviewed a draft of various safety recommendations – endorsed the moratorium, according to the IG report obtained by POLITICO.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) Goes Rogue and Threatens to Block Obama's OMB Nominee

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is vowing to block a Senate vote to confirm President Obama’s choice to head the White House Office of Management and Budget unless a temporary ban on offshore oil-and-gas drilling is removed.


The Hill reported:

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is vowing to block a Senate vote to confirm President Obama’s choice to head the White House Office of Management and Budget unless a temporary ban on offshore oil-and-gas drilling is removed.

Her pledge to hold up the nomination of Jack Lew represents a dramatic political escalation of Landrieu’s fight against the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling and the slowdown in permits for shallow water projects.

Citing Uncertainty About Drilling Policy- Drilling Company Abandons American Waters

That gurgling sound you hear is thousands of U.S jobs going down the toilet as Drilling companies face reality and set sail for friendlier countries.

The Houston Chronicle reported:

WASHINGTON — Diamond Offshore announced Friday that its Ocean Endeavor drilling rig will leave the Gulf of Mexico and move to Egyptian waters immediately — making it the first to abandon the United States in the wake of the BP oil spill and a ban on deep-water drilling.

And the Ocean Endeavor's exodus probably won't be the last, according to oil industry officials and Gulf Coast leaders who warn that other companies eager to find work for the now-idled rigs are considering moving them outside the U.S.