A federal judge overturned the six-month deep water drilling moratorium within the Gulf of Mexico. The ruling issued Tuesday cited economic hardship due to the ban and explained the government overreached by suspending all deep-water drilling operations planned within the gulf. Oil companies decided to hail the ruling. The Department of Justice said it would quickly appeal the decision. Meanwhile, as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010 gushed, about 106 million gallons of crude and counting have spilled to the sea.
Drilling moratorium judge invested in oil
The drilling moratorium was overturned by Judge Martin L.C. Feldman after a grouping of oil rig service companies filed a complaint. ABC News reports that recent disclosure documents indicate that Feldman, who was appointed to the bench by Ronald Reagan, has had financial holdings in oil companies. Feldman said the Interior Department acted as though it were “arbitrarily and capriciously” when it issued a six-month moratorium on drilling new deep-water wells within the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean. Feldman of course a preliminary injunction to Hornbeck Offshore Services to lift the drilling moratorium, saying that the government “failed to cogently reflect the decision to issue a blanket, generic, indeed punitive, moratorium.”
Uncertain about a lot more deep-water drilling
The moratorium was imposed to give a presidential panel time to come up with a couple of recommendations on how to stay away from a repeat of the BP oil spill disaster. The Los Angeles Times reports that it remains uncertain whether the Interior Department would have to begin issuing new permits to drill. With an appeal virtually certain to come from the Obama administration, some analysts doubt that oil companies would want to start a major deep-water drilling operation within the Gulf of Mexico with the possibility it may have to shut down if the appeal succeeds.
Drilling moratorium spun by oil companies
The American Petroleum Institute praised today’s ruling, saying in a written statement, “The moratorium was an original reaction to concerns about the safety of offshore oil and natural gas operations. Nevertheless, an extended moratorium would have a tremendous impact on the nation’s energy security – and cause significant harm to the region of the country that was already suffering from the spill – without raising safety or improving industry procedures.”
BP oil spill has a containment failure
Meanwhile, in the gulf, CNN reports that government estimates indicate as much as 60,000 barrels (2.5 million gallons) of oil may be flowing into the Gulf every single day, and also the gusher has already taken a significant toll on tourism and also the fishing industry in Gulf Coast states. BP said Tuesday it had succeeded in collecting less than half of the estimated daily output: 25,830 barrels (1.08 million gallons) of oil over the past 24 hours. The amount is probably the most ever collected; the previous record was set June 18 when 25,290 barrels were collected. BP said it will donate net revenues it receives from the sale of oil recovered from the spill to help the National Fish and Wildlife Federation deal with the oil it won’t be collecting from the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico 2010.
Citations
ABC News
abcnews.go.com/Politics/gulf-oil-spill-disaster-judge-overrules-white-house/story?id=10983980&page=2
Los Angeles times
latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-moratorium-20100623,,7804590.story
CNN
cnn.com/2010/US/06/22/gulf.oil.disaster/index.html?npt=NP1
