NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A federal judge in New Orleans has blocked a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects that was imposed in response to the massive Gulf oil spill.
Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide other services to offshore drilling rigs had asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans to overturn the moratorium.
President Barack Obama’s administration has halted the approval of any new permits for deepwater drilling and suspended drilling at 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf.
Feldman says in his ruling that the Interior Department failed to provide adequate reasoning for the moratorium. He says it seems to assume that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.
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White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the Obama administration would appeal a judge’s decision Tuesday blocking the moratorium on offshore drilling imposed by the president.
I am very much aware of what Politico said.
Just how fitting is it that a Reagan appointed judge says the administration misled the public.
At least there are a few honest judges left.