The editors of the Los Angeles Times weigh in on the Obama drilling moratorium:

Nearly a month ago, President Obama announced that he was creating a seven-member commission to investigate the origins of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and report back in six months on how to prevent such a catastrophe from occurring again. Until then, he said, there would be a moratorium on new deepwater drilling.
At this point, only four of the commission’s members have been named. Yet Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, under pressure from members of Congress concerned about the loss of oil jobs, is already talking about possibly shortening the moratorium.
We have heard too many disturbing stories about what might have contributed to the country’s worst oil spill: warning signs unheeded, environmental waivers granted, shortcuts taken. Neither BP nor the Minerals Management Service planned for a major disaster, or even conceded that an oil well blowout was a realistic possibility. Add to that federal regulators who acted more like buddies to oil company executives than overseers.

The rest here.

The moratorium is at risk of becoming permanent, however. Brazil is looking for deepwater rigs:

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 11 (Reuters) – Brazil could benefitfrom the BP Gulf of Mexico spill as a U.S. moratorium onoffshore drilling boosts available rigs for the country’s deepwater oil exploration program. Even as an ecological catastrophe makes the future of U.S.offshore drilling less certain, Brazil is plowing ahead with a$220 billion five-year plan to tap oil fields even deeper thanBP’s (BP.L) ill-fated Gulf well, which is still leaking crude. With an estimated 35 rigs idled in the Gulf of Mexico,Brazil is already receiving inquiries from companies looking tomove their rigs here, where vast discoveries in recent yearsmay soon turn the country into a major crude exporter. “What is bad for some may be good for others,” saidFernando Martins, Latin America Vice President for GE Oil andGas, which provides services to drillers in Brazil. “Since operators are shutting down at least temporarily inthe U.S. Gulf, some companies are planning to move their rigsto Brazil now,” he said, without offering details.