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Citing threat of 'irreparable' damage, Obama again freezes drilling
Rebuffed by the courts, the Obama administration is trying again to freeze new oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, this time saying such drilling poses an imminent threat of "irreparable damage to the marine, coastal, and human environment."
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the new freeze Monday, saying it would be effective until at least Nov. 30. He said he has new information since he first tried to suspend new drilling–a suspension thrown out by a federal court.
Salazar said the government learned, for example, that close examinations revealed problems in blowout preventers on the relief wells being drilled by BP to cap its leaking oil well in the Gulf. Those problems had to be repaired before the work could continue on the relief wells, which could reach the leaking well by mid-August and allow BP to seal it off permanently.
Also, Salazar said the government now needs assurances from oil drillers in the Gulf that they would have enough equipment to deal with any new spill–knowing that most such equipment is already being used to clean up the spill from the BP Deepwater Horizon well.