NOIA President Randall Luthi issued the following statement in response to the lifting of the deepwater drilling moratorium announced Oct. “While we are pleased today that Secretary Salazar has opted to end the job-killing moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, our companies remain doubtful that this announcement is anything more than symbolic, until permits are actually issued for new drilling. “In the shallow water gulf, where no official moratorium was imposed, permitting slowed to a snail’s pace under the government guidelines imposed this summer, some of which are now codified in the Interim Final Drilling Safety Rule announced by DOI last week.