The US Department of Energy estimates there is more than ten trillion gallons of domestic crude oil in derelict oil wells recoverable through enhanced oil recovery technologies. This alone is a thirty year supply of crude oil at our present day USA consumption rate of approximately 882 million gallons per day.
Common sense dictates that more emphasis and government support be placed on developing this proven natural resource rather than pursuing the more hazardous offshore deepwater exploration and production.

Certainly, concentrating on adding this crude oil supply, reducing the dependency on imported oil, will buy some time to establish better oversight and safety requirement on the Gulf of Mexico deepwater E&P. It will also allow time for the implementation of devices, such as that illustrated by www.dwoc.info, to prevent the incursion of petroleum fluids into the environment in the event of future well blow-outs, before lifting the drilling moratorium.