Salazar continues deepwater oil drilling ban for now

After a tour of three offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico this week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar tells The Associated Press that while he's considering revising or even lifting the government's drilling freeze: "We're not there yet." It's scheduled to last until November 30. Business groups and Gulf Coast political leaders say the shutdown is crippling the oil and gas industry and costing thousands of jobs. Salazar says the industry-wide moratorium imposed after BP's oil spill was the correct call. He says the ultimate goal is to allow deepwater operations to resume safely, but he still has a lot of questions about drilling safety after his tour. He calls the issues complex, with different kinds of rigs, different depth limitations and "different zones of risk." Salazar acknowledges the hardship the freeze is causing, but says his job also involves protecting the public and the environment...more