Oil Spill Update: Obama’s 6-Month Ban on Deep-Water Drilling Overruled by Federal Judge, Says Government Offered No Proof That All Rigs Pose Similar Danger
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on June 22, 2010
Cleanup crews work to remove oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in Orange Beach, Alabama, June 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
Pres. Obama’s wide-sweeping moratorium on offshore drilling has been struck down by a federal judge, as there was no proof produced by Team Obama that any other oil rigs pose a similar danger as that of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that exploded on April 20.
Thousands of Americans affected by Obama’s arbitrary ban, who were put out of work during the worst economic recession in three decades, will soon be able to return to their jobs. In the meantime, the US government will seek to overturn the judge’s decision.
Embrace the small miracles…
From New York Times, Judge Blocks Deep-Water Drilling Moratorium:
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge struck down the Obama administration’s six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, saying the government rashly concluded that because one rig failed, the others are in immediate danger, too.
The White House promised an immediate appeal. The Interior Department 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 President Barack Obama believes strongly that drilling at such depths does not make 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.
They argued it was arbitrarily imposed after the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 workers and blew out the well 5,000 feet underwater. It has spewed anywhere from 67 million to 127 million gallons of oil into the Gulf.
Feldman sided with the companies, saying in his ruling the Interior Department assumed that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.
”The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an unprecedented, sad, ugly and inhuman disaster,” he wrote. ”What seems clear is that the federal government has been pressed by what happened on the Deepwater Horizon into an otherwise sweeping confirmation that all Gulf deepwater drilling activities put us all in a universal threat of irreparable harm.”
His ruling prohibits federal officials from enforcing the moratorium until a trial is held. He did not set a trial date.
The Interior Department said it needed time to study the risks of deepwater drilling. But the lawsuit filed by Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, La., claimed there was no proof the other operations posed a threat.
Company CEO Todd Hornbeck said after the ruling that he is looking forward to getting back to work.
”It’s the right thing for not only the industry but the country,” he said.
From Bloomberg, Deepwater Drilling Ban Lifted by New Orleans Federal Judge:
“The court is unable to divine or fathom a relationship between the findings and the immense scope of the moratorium,” Feldman said in his 22-page decision. “The blanket moratorium, with no parameters, seems to assume that because one rig failed and although no one yet fully knows why, all companies and rigs drilling new wells over 500 feet also universally present an imminent danger.”
[...]
Lawyers for the drilling companies told Feldman the moratorium illegally sidesteps a required industry comment period. They also said regulators failed to tell Obama that all active deepwater rigs passed an immediate re-inspection after the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank, with only two rigs reporting minor violations and the rest getting approval to continue operations.
Henry Dart, special counsel for the Louisiana attorney general, told Feldman that federal regulators failed to consult with state officials about the impact of the drilling ban, allegedly violating U.S. law.
“Even after the catastrophic events of Sept. 11, the government only shut down the airlines for three days,” Louisiana said in court papers seeking to lift the ban. Diamond Offshore Co., owner of the world’s second-largest floating drilling rig fleet, has filed a separate lawsuit against the regulatory agencies over the ban in Houston federal court. That suit, which accused the government of illegally “taking” its drilling contracts, worth up to $500,000 a day, has a scheduling conference in Houston this afternoon before U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas.
From Michelle Malkin, Breaking: Judge rules against Obamatorium on drilling; link to decision added; Interior Secy Salazar roasted:
Takeaway from decision: “After reviewing the Secretary’s Report, the Moratorium Memorandum, and the Notice to Lessees, the Court is unable to divine or fathom a relationship between the findings and the immense scope of the moratorium. The Report, invoked by the Secretary, describes the offshore oil industry in the Gulf and offers many compelling recommendations to improve safety. But it offers no time line for implementation, though many of the proposed changes are represented to be implemented immediately. The Report patently lacks any analysis of the asserted fear of threat of irreparable injury or safety hazards posed by the thirty-three permitted rigs also reached by the moratorium.”
From Rush Limbaugh’s EIB radio show yesterday, prior to the moratorium ruling:
I want to go back to this moratorium lawsuit that’s being brought by the oil companies for a second. According to the AP, the judge, Martin Feldman, the Reagan appointee, asked a government lawyer, this is a very sensible question, the judge, “asked a government lawyer why the Interior Department decided to suspend deepwater drilling after the rig explosion when it didn’t bar oil tankers from Alaskan waters after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 or take similar actions in the wake of other industrial accidents.” It seems like a very sensible question. In fact, you could almost ask, “Are you allowing tankers in the Gulf to deliver oil to places?” And the government lawyer’s reply was this: “The Deepwater Horizon blowout was a game-changer. It really illustrates the risks that are inherent in deepwater drilling.” Which is BS. The government lawyer did not really have a good answer. Well, wait a minute. If you’re banning drilling, what about banning tankers? In fact, a tanker accident is riskier than a rig accident.
UPDATE, June 24, 2010… left-wing rage is escalating. How DARE the law be followed? How DARE Obama not get to do whatever in the hell he wants. Unhinged left-wing extremists want the judge dead… Gateway Pundit, After Overturning Obama’s Drilling Moratorium Leftists Threaten to Kill Judge Feldman
UPDATE, August 21, 2010… THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT. Reported by Gateway Pundit… The Disaster Continues… Obama’s Gulf Drilling Moratorium Has Cost At Least 23,000 Jobs
Related reading:
Gateway Pundit: Obama Administration Loses Bid to Keep Oil Drilling Ban and Breaking: Federal Judge Rules Against Obama’s Job-Killing Moratorium and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Offers to Help Obama With Gulf Oil Slick and Obama Says Oil Spill Is Like 9-11… But Sends Only 20 of 2,000 US Oil Skimmer Boats to Florida Coast and Breaking: Obama Administration Only Accepted Help From 5 Countries Out of 28 That Offered Assistance and More Incompetence… Crude-Sucking Barges Ordered By Gov. Jindal Shut Down By Feds and Obama Tells Politico the Oil Spill is Like 9-11… Then Goes Golfing for 4 Hours and Ruh-Roh… 71% of Voters Say Government Response to Oil Spill Is Important to Their Vote and Bachmann: White House Is Extorting Cash From BP to Create “Pot of Money For Themselves” (Video) and LiveBlogging the Obama Oil Spill Address & Cap-&-Tax Push and Conga-Lines… Bare-Chested Beer Pong… Super Soaker Fights… The Good Times Keep Rolling Along For Obama White House Officials and Krauthammer on Obama Polling Lower Than Bush on Katrina: This Gives Whole new Meaning to Hope and Change (Video) and Devastating: Video Shows Feds Knew Immediately of Massive Oil Flow Potential in Gulf Spill and Obama: Gulf Oil Spill Echoes 9-11 and Breaking: Government Informed About Maine Oil Boom Company Back on May 21 and Oil Slick, What Oil Slick?… Feds Ban Flights Over Affected Gulf Coast Region and Today’s Whine: Obama to Reporters “I Can’t Suck It Up With a Straw” (Video) and 18 US Beaches May Be Ruined Forever While Miles Of Oil Boom Sits in a Maine Warehouse and Oh My!… Team Obama Fudged Report to Push Their Oil Drilling Moratorium and Obama Knew From the Beginning That the Oil Would Leak For Months
Another Black Conservative: New Orleans judge blocks Obama’s moratorium on offshore drilling
Doug Powers, Michelle Malkin: Language Expert: If You Didn’t Like Obama’s Oil Spill Speech, It’s Probably Because You’re Stupid
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Golf, Parties, Vacations, Fundraisers… Why Party-Boy Obama Took So Long to Respond to Catastrophic Oil Spill (video) and Pres. Obama’s Gloriously Inept Oil Spill Speech: Left-wing Pundits Ruthlessly Beat Up Obama on Disastrous, Asinine Speech (video) and Tired of Waiting for Team Obama’s Foot-Dragging Approval: Gov. Bobby Jindal Begins Building Barrier Walls to Protect Louisiana Shore – Also, Claims Not Being Processed Quickly and POTUS Priorities, Fail Again: Obama Blew Off BP Gulf Memorial Service to Yuck It Up at Dem. Sen. Barbara “Don’t Call Me Ma’am” Boxer’s Fundraiser (video) and Gulf Oil Spill Update: As Oysters & Other Seafood Decrease, Chicken Livers May Replace Them in Restaurants (video)
Nice Deb: Video: FL Sen. George LeMieux: “Where are the Skimmers?” and “America’s Putin” and The BP Oil Spill Escrow Fund and The President thinks we’re stupid… and The Flailing President and Eager To Shirk Responsibility, Obama Latches On To “IF” Arguments
Motor City Times: Oil Spill Is Now An Excuse For Democrats Green Energy Agenda
Diary of a Mad Conservative: Rhetoric that makes me see red — or brown shirts and Random thoughts on TheOne’s speech and Gulf oil spill spells major inconvenience for the White House that still finds time for a party or 2
Jim Hoft, Big Government: Obama Says Oil Spill Is Like 9-11, But Sends Only 20 of 2,000 Oil Skimmer Boats to Florida Coast
Greg Gutfeld, Big Hollywood: Daily Gut: Greece Not Grease
Michelle Malkin: Obama to Tea Partiers: See! The Gulf Disaster is What Smaller Government Will Get You
HillBuzz: THEORY: The reason the Obama Administration is not allowing flyovers or proper reporting on the Gulf Spill is that it’s MUCH MUCH MUCH worse than the government is letting on.
No Sheeples Here: Snakebitten? and Oval Office Speeches Are Best Reserved For Wars And Resignations and BREAKING: WH Energy Czar Browner Unaware Adm. Allen Willing to Waive Jones Act That Is Slowing Oil Spill Disaster Clean-Up
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Oil Spill Update: Obama's 6-Month Ban on Deep-Water Drilling ……
Great news that the oil is suddenly disappearing. Mother Nature doing her job. But Obama will take credit for it I’m sure.