As Gas Breaks $4 a Gallon, Obama Nixes Drill Talk

Tuesday, 08 Mar 2011 01:57 PM
By Jim Meyers and David A. Patten

Despite the soaring price of gasoline resulting from Middle East unrest, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is standing by the Obama administration’s resolve to curtail new offshore oil drilling sharply.

Salazar’s department filed an appeal on Friday to a U.S. District Court judge’s ruling ordering Interior to speed up action on pending deep water permits for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The department has dramatically slowed down the process of approving or denying permits since the BP oil spill last summer,â€