Senior Obama administration officials proceeded with the six-month deepwater drilling moratorium despite knowing that the move would cost 23,000 jobs, according to newly released documents.

The Justice Department filed the economic analysis in a New Orleans court this week as part of its litigation over the moratorium. The documents, 27,000 pages in length, are comprehensive about how the administration should deal with the legal and political challenges to the ban.

According to the papers, Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE, told Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in a July 10 memo that a six-month moratorium would cost 9,450 direct jobs, and 12,747 indirect ones.

The memo states that direct employment would resume once the moratorium ends.

The White House said it understands the importance of the oil and gas industry to the region, but the economic benefits need to be weighed against risks posed to other industries vital to the Gulf, such as fishing and tourism.

The documents also show that the director of the U.S. Geological Survey said in late June that BP PLC had an "unrealistically optimistic" corporate culture. Officials at the agency formerly called the Minerals Management Service (now BOEMRE) outlined the risks of drilling activities and said there should be more regulation.

Bromwich said that the administration hopes for an end to the moratorium before Nov. 30 (Power/Eaton, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 21).

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), a vocal critic of the moratorium, blasted the news, and likened it to the controversy over the report that was used to justify its implementation.

"It's becoming more and more concerning that this moratorium is being driven more by politics than good policy," Vitter said in a statement this weekend. "This is at least the second time those involved with decision-making at the Interior Department have failed to heed common-sense recommendations.

"Between these revelations of [BOEMRE Director Michael] Bromwich's analysis and the National Academy of Engineers' 30-day report that mysteriously had information added -- and is now under investigation by the Inspector General -- the evidence is building by the day of the administration's disregard for the impact the moratorium is having on America's economy and families and small businesses along the Gulf Coast," he added. -- GV, KH