BP Will Not Pay For 6-Month Deepwater Drilling Moratorium

BP Also refusing demands to pay for restoration of the Gulf coast beyond its prespill conditions

Although BP is opposing to pay worker' salaries for the 33 rigs idled by President Obama's 6-month moratorium, BP has agreed to earmark $20 billion for a claimant fund and an additional $100 million for Gulf workers idled by the drilling moratorium.

BP should pay for all restoration costs related to the spill, but President Obama should immediately lift the moratorium. It is causing more harm to the economy in that region and is creating dangerous conditions at the 33 idled rigs. The drilling industry estimates the moratorium will cost rig workers as much as $330 million a month in direct wages, not counting businesses servicing those rigs like machine-shop workers. The $100 million, 0.5% of the total, won't come close to covering collateral damage from the White House's moratorium. (WSJ, 6/21/2010)