White House ripped for oil spill politics (OneNewsNow.com)

White House ripped for oil spill politics (OneNewsNow.com)

An environmental expert says the Obama administration's ultimate goal is a moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico -- not the clean-up and containment of the oil spill.

The White House has promised an immediate appeal of a federal judge's reversal of the administration's six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the gulf, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he will issue a new order imposing a moratorium.

"Pure politicking at its worst," says James Taylor, a senior fellow for environmental policy at the Heartland Institute.

"What we see here is the Obama administration trying to score points for a new -- quote, unquote -- 'energy bill' that's really an anti-energy bill, seeking to restrict oil production," Taylor explains. "The people who are losing out are the folks in the Gulf states who are having their livelihoods taken away, and the American people [who will] be forced to pay significantly higher energy costs as a result."