http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/06/drilling-oil-moratorium/1
Jun 24, 2010

09:45 AM
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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday that a new order imposing a moratorium on deepwater drilling could be refined to reflect offshore conditions, the Associated Press reports.
Salazar plans to issue a new drilling freeze after a federal judge overturned the Obama administration’s six-month ban on deepwater drilling Tuesday. The new drilling order, which is still being developed, could include provisions to allow drilling in areas where reserves and risks are known, the AP reports.

The Justice Department sought a delay for Judge Martin Feldman’s ruling Wednesday night and the Interior Department stopped approval of any new permits for deepwater projects and suspended drilling on 33 exploratory wells, the story says.
Meanwhile, BP is pursuing an Alaska project to drill two miles under the sea and then six to eight miles horizontally, the New York Times reports. All other new drilling in the Artic has been stopped but BP’s project has been exempted since regulators granted it status as an “onshore” project, according to the Times.

 Posted by Jessica Durando. Special thanks to Richard Charter