The White House says there will be a temporary ban on new deep-water drilling, and BP will have to pay the salaries of oilmen who have no work during that ban. I scratched my head trying to figure out the logic behind this.

This isn't to agree or disagree, but to say that if you think something is being argued that is stupid, it would make sense to link to the text wherein that argument is to be found. Otherwise you're setting up a straw man. What was the US' executive's actual argument for calling on BP to pay those salaries?