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 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The White House said immediately it would appeal the decision.
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.
Steven Newman, Transocean Ltd. president and CEO, is seen during a break at the World National Oil Companies Congress in London on Tuesday. (Lefteris Pitarakis/Associated Press)
U.S. 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.
But Feldman said in his ruling that the Interior Department failed to provide adequate reasoning for the moratorium, and accused it of appearing to assume that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.
via cbc.ca
Isn't this absurd?
What a week for President Obama - the Oil rebellion and confronting his insubordinate commander in Afghanistan.
