2010 United States deepwater drilling moratorium
So, imagine you have a toy boat that you like to play with in the bathtub. Sometimes, you might accidentally tip it over and water gets in the boat. This is okay because it's just a toy and it doesn't really matter.
But now imagine there are really big boats that explore the ocean and drill for oil deep under the water. If something goes wrong and these big boats tip over, it could create a really big problem that can harm the animals that live in the ocean and the people who live nearby.
In 2010, there was a big accident when one of these big boats called the Deepwater Horizon had a problem and oil started leaking into the ocean. It was really bad and took a long time to clean up. So, the government decided to stop other big boats from drilling for a while until they could figure out how to make sure it was safe and nothing like that would happen again. This is what we call the "deepwater drilling moratorium" - it's like a time-out to make sure everyone is playing safe.
But now imagine there are really big boats that explore the ocean and drill for oil deep under the water. If something goes wrong and these big boats tip over, it could create a really big problem that can harm the animals that live in the ocean and the people who live nearby.
In 2010, there was a big accident when one of these big boats called the Deepwater Horizon had a problem and oil started leaking into the ocean. It was really bad and took a long time to clean up. So, the government decided to stop other big boats from drilling for a while until they could figure out how to make sure it was safe and nothing like that would happen again. This is what we call the "deepwater drilling moratorium" - it's like a time-out to make sure everyone is playing safe.