Reuters
9/1/2010
A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the U.S. government’s request to dismiss an industry lawsuit challenging its deepwater oil and gas drilling moratorium, dealing another blow to the Obama administration.
Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc and other drilling companies sued the administration on June 7 after it first ordered a halt to deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico following BP Plc’s well rupture that killed 11 workers and caused the world’s worst offshore oil spill.
As a result of Louisiana-based Hornbeck’s lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans blocked implementation of the drilling ban on June 22.
The Obama administration then issued a reworked second drilling moratorium and asked that the Hornbeck lawsuit be thrown out because the first ban was no longer relevant.
But in his 20-page ruling on Wednesday, Feldman said the administration’s new moratorium offered “no substantial changes” from the first one, and denied the motion to dismiss the Hornbeck lawsuit.
The original moratorium, which banned drilling below 500 feet for six months, was put on hold because Feldman found that the administration had failed to properly weigh the economic impact it would have on the industry and the surrounding communities.
Hornbeck and the other companies also had questioned whether the Obama administration, through the Interior Department which oversees and regulates offshore drilling, could rescind the original moratorium, which was blocked by the court, and issue a second one.
Feldman ruled that while the Interior Department could do so, he said the department had failed to follow proper procedures by seeking permission from the court since the original moratorium had been blocked.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said the department was reviewing the decision.
Read the rest of the article at Reuters.
From MichelleMalkin.com:
…via the WSJ:
Judge Feldman also noted that in crafting the second moratorium, Mr. Salazar appeared to have relied heavily on documents and data that he had at the time of the first moratorium order. “Nearly every statement in the July 12 decision memorandum is anticipated by documents in the May 28 record, or by documents that were otherwise available to the Secretary before May 28,” the judge said.
Related: A bipartisan call to lift the de facto shallow drilling ban NOW:
Rep. Gene Green (D-TX) and Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) have again written to Department of the Interior Secretary Salazar regarding the issuance of new permits for shallow water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The letter, co-signed by 37 Democrats and Republicans from across the country, is the second letter that Rep. Green and Rep. Boustany have sent to Secretary Salazar reminding him of the significance of the Gulf Coast economy and urging the immediate issuance of new permits…
