Shallow Water Drilling Permit Has Been Issued

I guess it's an oil rig.

This particular story caught my eye today. It seems that the Interior Dept. has issued a permit to drill for natural gas in a shallow water area. Here is an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal:

The Interior Department has approved a permit to drill a well in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the first such clearance since new safety regulations took effect following the BP PLC spill.

Houston-based Apache Corp. received the permit on Friday, a company spokesman said Monday. Apache began drilling Sunday on a gas well about 50 feet deep, the spokesman said. The company is using a rig from Ensco PLC.

Also, in the wake of this newly issued permit, I found this interesting news clip on the Washington Post website. The report covers the problem that drilling companies are having with procuring drilling permits for shallow water. According to the report, the Interior Dept. wants to know what contingencies companies have in place in case of a blowout similar to the BP oil disaster.

A couple of things rub me the wrong way here. First is that the only way to get a drilling permit was to select a deep water site because of an until recently lifted shallow water drilling moratorium, and second, BP already had contingencies that it was prepared to carry out in the event of a blowout that it never got a chance to execute. I don't know exactly whats being discussed behind closed doors, but in my own cynicism, I believe that the Interior Dept. is trying to find a plausible excuse to give to the country at large in favor of a complete moratorium. I can't stake that in fact yet, but I want to see if what I have to say may bear fruit.