Report: Interior pins 23,000 job losses on deepwater drilling ban

Federal documents show the Interior Department estimated its six-month ban on deepwater oil-and-gas drilling would temporarily cost about 23,000 jobs, according to a news account.

The estimate is likely to embolden Gulf Coast lawmakers and oil industry officials who have attacked the ban, which was imposed in response to the BP spill, alleging it will harm the region’s economy.

The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday on documents the Justice Department filed with a New Orleans federal court that is hearing litigation challenging the freeze.

The ban was initially imposed in late May, but a federal judge struck it down in June, leading Interior to impose a revised version July 12.

From the Journal piece:

“[The documents] show the new top regulator or offshore oil exploration, Michael Bromwich, told Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that a six-month deepwater-drilling halt would result in ‘lost direct employment’ affecting approximately 9,450 workers and ‘lost jobs from indirect and induced effects’ affecting about 13,797 more. The July 10 memo cited an analysis by Mr. Bromwich’s agency that assumed direct employment on affected rigs would ‘resume normally once the rigs resume operations.’”

Bromwich and White House officials have said they’re open to lifting the ban before the scheduled late November expiration – if they’re confident that new safeguards will prevent another well blowout.