Interior Dept. sets new offshore drilling rules

The Obama administration on Thursday imposed new rules to make offshore drilling safer, but said it was not yet ready to lift a temporary ban on deepwater drilling. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called offshore drilling inherently risky and said, "We will only lift the moratorium when I, as secretary of Interior, am comfortable that we have significantly reduced those risks." White House press secretary Robert Gibbs called the new regulations "a big step forward" and said they moved the administration closer to lifting the deepwater drilling ban. The new rules, which take effect immediately, include many recommendations made in a report Salazar released in May, including requirements that rigs certify that they have working blowout preventers and standards for cementing wells. The cement process and blowout preventer both failed to work as expected in the BP spill. The new rules, which take effect immediately, include many recommendations made in a report Salazar released in May, including requirements that rigs certify that they have working blowout preventers and standards for cementing wells. The cement process and blowout preventer both failed to work as expected in the BP spill...more