Crude Politics - WSJ.com

Crude Politics - WSJ.com:

Before the Obama Administration sweeps under the carpet the controversy over the drilling experts it falsely used to justify its moratorium, the incident bears another look. Not least because it underlines the purely political nature of a drilling ban that now threatens the Gulf Coast economy and drilling safety.

When President Obama last month announced his six-month deepwater moratorium, he pointed to an Interior Department report of new 'safety' recommendations. That report prominently noted that the recommendations it contained—including the six-month drilling ban—had been 'peer-reviewed' by 'experts identified by the National Academy of Engineering.' It also boasted that Interior 'consulted with a wide range' of other experts. The clear implication was that the nation's drilling brain trust agreed a moratorium was necessary."