The Obama administration has lifted its temporary ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The ban was imposed in May shortly after the Deepwater Horizon explosion caused one of the worst environmental crises in US history. On Tuesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said operators of the thirty-six rigs halted by the ban can now apply to resume deepwater drilling before the end of the year. In a conference call to reporters, Salazar said the Gulf is now “open for business.”

Ken Salazar: “The policy position that we’re articulating today is that we are open for business. So I expect we will see a resumption of deepwater drilling very soon. And I can’t tell you the exact date when it will happen, but it will happen soon.”

The ban was due to expire at the end of November. Environmental groups had urged the administration to continue the ban and expand it to include shallow water drilling as well. In a statement, the watchdog group Public Citizen called lifting the ban “misguided and reckless,” adding, “We still have no way to address a catastrophic blowout in deep water… Without technology in hand to stop millions of gallons of oil from spewing from the bottom of the ocean, we are simply gambling with our environment.”