July 7, 2010
Lawyers for the Obama administration and the oil industry will be back in court(在法庭上) in New Orleans tomorrow. They will argue whether a six-month moratorium(延缓) on deep-water drilling(钻井) is legal.
The Department of Interior(内政部) wants the time to develop new safety and environmental regulations(规章), but last month a federal(联邦的) judge sided with(与某人站一边) the industry and ruled(裁定) the agency acted too hastily in putting the moratorium in place.
All the big names in the oil industry will be paying close attention to the legal arguments(法律论据). And there also will be hundreds of small businesses that'll be watching. Unlike the big companies, their very existence could be at stake(危如累卵) if the moratorium continues.
There's a sign in front of Delmar Systems' headquarters(总部) in Broussard, La., that reads: "Mr. Obama you should not eliminate(消除) our jobs."
If the current moratorium continues, it could hit Delmar especially hard. The bulk of(大部分) the company's business is anchoring(锚住) and mooring(停泊) semi-submersible drilling rigs(半潜式钻机). If there are no rigs drilling in the Gulf — there's nothing to anchor. So, it's a little surprising how much activity there is in Delmar's shop these days.
"We're probably actually a little busier than usual because we've got a large number of mooring components that are coming to the beach," says Delmar Executive Vice President Brady Como.
Crews are busy bringing rigs into shallower water as drillers wait for the moratorium issue to be resolved. Como says he has enough work to keep Delmar's workers busy for 90 days. But after that, it's anyone's guess.
"Delmar has been around south Louisiana for 42 years — first time in the history of the company that our 300 employees will look around and see that there's no activity," says Como. "People got to begin to wonder about job security and what they've chosen to do for a living."
And this is just one company — there are hundreds more like it.