Fallout from Drilling Moratorium Continues

A federal judge has blocked the ban on off shore drilling, yet one local expert says don't expect drilling to resume anytime soon.

Shock waves could be felt throughout the drilling community when President Obama announced a six month moratorium on offshore drilling. Tulane Professor Eric Smith, who works in Tulane's Energy Institute says, "I was absolutely flabbergasted that someone would do that since there's really no precedent for it."

Smith says it was only a matter of time before a judge blocked the ban, because he thinks it wasn't entirely legal. "There were a number of provisions in the act that require comment periods and this sort of thing that had not occurred, it was simply one or two men whether you want to blame Ken Salazar or the President saying shut them down."


But now that the ruling has come down, it doesn't necessarily mean drilling will start up again. Smith thinks most companies will wait for the legal saga to play out, before putting time and money back into their operations. The next step is to take this to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Smith explains, "If that 5th Circuit Court upholds the injunction then you will get the government backing down."

Or it could go to The Supreme Court. Bottom line, it's not something that will get resolved anytime soon. "This is going to be a soap opera before its over with" Smith says.