Guest Blogger: David Holt on the Costs of a Drilling Moratorium

David Holt / June 02, 2010

In the wake of the moratorium on offshore drilling projects that President Obama announced late last month, The New Orleans Times-Picayune has attempted to measure the cost of so much disruption to one of Louisiana’s core industries.

The result? A conservative estimate – assuming a shutdown of just six months – suggests the moratorium could cost the state $2.97 billion and 7,590 jobs directly related to the oil industry. That is not counting all the other industries indirectly related to oil production and exploration. The story states that each job in the oil industry is believed to support four other non-industry jobs that provide products and services related to drilling. Of course, it’s also not measuring the impact to other Gulf states, namely Texas. (more…)