La. Companies Successful In Lawsuit Against President's 6-Month Moratorium On Offshore Drilling Amid BP Spill In Gulf.Obi One plans on challenging the ruling. Maybe don't let a good crisis go to waste is faltering.
A federal judge in New Orleans blocked Tuesday President Obama's moratorium on offshore drilling, imposed after the BP oil spill along the Gulf Coast.
The 6-month ban on deepwater drilling was heavily criticized when enacted by the president.
Update: FNC
A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday blocked a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects imposed in response to the massive Gulf oil spill.
The White House promised an immediate appeal. President Obama's administration had halted approval of any new permits for deepwater drilling and suspended drilling of 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf.
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama believes strongly that drilling at such depths does not make any sense and puts the safety of workers "at a danger that the president does not believe we can afford."
Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide other services to offshore drilling rigs asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans to overturn the moratorium, arguing it was arbitrarily imposed.
Feldman agreed, saying in his ruling the Interior Department seemed to assume that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.
"An invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in depths of over 500 feet simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country," Feldman wrote.
Cross posted at the Jawa Report
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