Other than that.....it's a great idea

What’s the best cure for a recessionary environment? Apparently, raising energy prices and killing jobs. The Obama Administration admitted to both because of the Department of Interior’s (DOI) newly announced offshore drilling safety regulations. Katie Howell of E&E reports:

The Obama administration is acknowledging that its new offshore drilling safety regulations will raise costs for the oil and gas industry—and may also delay some offshore development, slightly increase gas prices and kill some jobs.

The new rules unveiled last week would increase operating costs by an estimated $1.42 million for each new deepwater well drilled with a floating rig, $170,000 for each new deepwater well drilled with a platform rig and $90,000 for each new shallow-water well, according to an Interior Department notice released yesterday.

DOI called the costs “not an insignificant amount” and said it would only increase drilling costs 2 percent and 1 percent for deepwater wells and shallow-water wells, respectively. Although the cost increase would not be enough to affect world markets, “it could also lead to job losses at the more than 130 companies that own active leases in federal waters and more than a dozen drilling contractors and their suppliers,” Howell writes.

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