Landrieu: Lift the Drilling Moratorium

The Hill's Michael O'Brien reports:

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) ramped up pressure on Thursday for the Obama administration to shorten and lift its moratorium on offshore drilling.

Landrieu, whose home state has bore the brunt of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill close to the Louisiana coast, said that the administration's indefinite ban on drilling could only exacerbate the economic damage from the spill to the region.

"This is a conundrum for us -- a very difficult situation," Landrieu said during an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America."

President Barack Obama issued the moratorium on deepwater drilling after the explosion on a BP-leased rig 52 days ago that triggered an underwater leak in a pipeline, which has not yet been stemmed.

Landrieu said that ban had been "slapped on without much economic analysis," and should be lifted.

The owners of a small Louisiana shipping company that services rigs make a persuasive case that the moratorium is misguided.

Update: Via David Freddoso, a tougher line from Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy: "thousands of Louisianans are going to be out of work because the president wanted a get-tough headline."