Extra Credit 2

This was, in my opinion, one of the most boring papers I've written, but Fielder still gave me 15/15, so I guess it's a good one.


Obama’s Moratorium

According to the New York Times, 48,500 barrels of oil are spilling into the Gulf every day. Every day because of someone’s careless mistake, 48500 barrels seep into the ocean-ruining ecosystems, killing marine life. President Obama ordered a moratorium on permits for offshore drilling, but this cannot reverse the mistake already made. Off-shore drilling should continue; however, stricter regulations and more investigations of off-shore drilling permits are necessary to ensure that the explosion that took place on April 20, 2010 will not happen again.
Although the moratorium was supposed to halt any new off-shore drilling permits after April 20, according to the New York Times, “federal regulators have granted at least 19 environmental waivers for gulf drilling and at least 17 drilling permits, most of which were for types of work like that on the Deepwater Horizon shortly before it exploded, pouring a ceaseless current of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.” If stricter regulations were followed, the illegal permits granted would not have been granted in the first place. The moratorium will also help government agencies get to the bottom of the original problem-the explosion on April 20.
The moratorium is already helping the government agency, Department of the Interior, crack down on BP. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said at a news conference, “If we find they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing, we’ll push them out of the way appropriately.” President Obama seems to share my opinion on the matter and said, “It seems as if permits were too often issued based on little ore that assurances of safety from the oil companies. That cannot and will not happen anymore.” Not everyone shares my opinion.
Some would say that the moratorium is already failing and new regulations would be almost impossible to enforce-not to mention expensive. A law professor named Daniel J. Rohlf stated, “The moratorium does not even cover the dangerous drilling that caused the problem in the first place.” Current regulations are being glossed over to ensure that the big oil companies are happy, not caring if workers are safe or not. If new regulations were to be adopted, this would create more confusion and companies would continue to skate over the rules in place for safety.