Oil rig workers forced to job hunt after drill ban

By CAIN BURDEAU Associated Press Writer

MORGAN CITY, La. (AP) - President Barack Obama's six-month ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has sent shudders across the coast's offshore oil industry.

Earlier this week, a steel rig called Mr. Charlie that is stationed on a river in Louisiana graduated what could be one of its last classes of workers prepping for the rigors of offshore life.

Louisiana has long been indebted to the oil industry. Its thousands of good-paying jobs counterbalance the low-wage tourism industry in the state's southern tier of parishes.

But that changed - at least temporarily - after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, spewing the black gold into the Gulf.

Now, many of those who counted on making it in the oil patch are out stumping for jobs.