Bruce Vincent, chairman of the association and Swift Energy, a Houston based company, said, "Putting more job-creating American energy off-limits, and discouraging the production of our homegrown oil and natural gas, will only deepen our nation's foreign energy dependence, leading to even more unstable prices for consumers across the country." (San Francisco Chronicle, 7/12/10)

The revised plan unveiled by the administration on Monday is not the solution. The de facto moratorium, introduced by Energy Secretary Ken Salazar, doesn't cure the basic flaw of both its predecessors - the nagging uncertainty about the future of drilling in the Gulf that already has some major drilling players heading for the exits.

This approach is wrongheaded. It seems certain to cost tens of thousands of drilling-related jobs across the Gulf, including thousands of good jobs in the Houston area. It would also be likely to bring collateral damage to independents, the adept smaller players who often specialize in wringing out the last production from wells left behind by the mega-producers. A de facto moratorium could leave them behind altogether. Lastly, a suspension of production would hit the federal Treasury, too, by drying up royalties in federally owned areas.

The nation's oil-dependent economy can't take that hit. ... Oil from the Gulf of Mexico supplies 30 percent of domestic production. It cannot be shut down without serious consequences to the national economy. ... We're confident that this can and will be done safely and with care for the environment. (Houston Chronicle Editorial, 7/13/10) 

A moratorium means a potential loss of 8,000 jobs in Lafayette alone in a single year, and maybe half a billion in lost wages, according to some local estimates. ... For now, for us, the impact is more narrowly focused on the future of the our economy and the well-being of our people. We hope the court does away with the blanket moratorium and quickly, before those who make and own deepwater energy vessels abandon the Gulf Coast altogether. (Daily World Editorial, 7/14/10) 

Sen. David Vitter: "Despite being rejected by federal courts, and over the continued objections of Gulf state lawmakers, President Obama's administration continues to push these job-killing moratoriums and excuses for not issuing permits."

Sen. John Cornyn: "The Obama Administration's job-killing moratorium has only compounded the economic effects of this disaster. There's a better approach to protecting workers and our environment in the Gulf."

Sen. Roger Wicker: "It is clear that the moratorium is nothing more than a guise to stopping domestic energy production." (WLOX-TV, 7/15/10) 

Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Democrat from Louisiana, said today she has urged the Obama administration to drop its new moratorium on deep-water, floating oil rigs because "it could cost more jobs than the spill itself." ... The moratorium on floating rigs would be particularly damaging because they can be easily moved elsewhere. ... Driving away the rigs would not only have a negative economic impact for the United States, but also a negative environmental impact for the world, since the rigs would be sent to countries with fewer regulations and weaker court systems. (CBS News, 7/14/10) 

Local oilfield service companies are struggling with layoffs and work shortages even as the Obama administration renewed a moratorium on deep-water offshore drilling, officials with several companies said Monday.

"This moratorium is going to kill jobs at a time we need to be growing jobs, and it's going to make us more dependent on foreign oil at a time when we ought to be moving in the other direction," Boustany said. "There's really nothing that makes sense from a policy standpoint with this moratorium on drilling." (The Advertiser, 7/13/10)

"I am deeply disappointed that the Obama administration is again turning a blind eye to the severe economic harm this moratorium is causing Louisiana's workers and small businesses," said Melancon, D-Napoleonville. "At a time when we are already suffering from the BP oil disaster in the Gulf, this continued suspension will cost our state more jobs and revenue." (News Star, 7/14/10)

Several witnesses pleaded for commissioners to take a quick position on the Obama administration's deepwater drilling moratorium, most forcefully by companies that service the oil industry. They contend that rigs and jobs will leave U.S. waters if deepwater drilling does not resume. ... Cherri Foytlin, 37, who works at a tiny local newspaper in Rayne, La., also urged a lifting of the moratorium to save jobs in coastal Louisiana. When commissioners discuss the spill, she said, "you are not talking about a big oil company. You are talking about people like me and my six kids." (Washington Post, 7/12/10) 

"In fact, one of the co-chairs, former Environmental Protection Agency chief William Reilly, said he can't understand why more hasn't been done in the past three months to limit the moratorium, which was struck down in federal court, and then reissued Monday. "I come to this experience with a much greater sense of the economic dislocation being experienced here than I had three days ago," before the commission began hearings in New Orleans, Reilly said at a Tuesday news conference. (Times-Picayune , 7/13/10)