Obama admin. appeals decision blocking drill ban

[cal04]

Source: Reuters

edited to update

The Obama administration on Wednesday appealed a court ruling that blocked its six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling after a judge said it was not adequately justified despite the crude oil spill from BP Plc's <BP.L><BP.N> leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico.

The administration also asked District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans to put his ruling against the moratorium on hold pending the outcome of the appeal or until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit can consider a request for a stay.

The Justice Department said in the court filing supporting the stay that the temporary moratorium only affected 33 active deepwater drills in the Gulf of Mexico and the harm from another potential oil spill far outweighed those interests.

The "suspensions were issued to prevent the risk of more loss of life and long-term environmental and economic devastation like that arising from the Deepwater Horizon accident," the filing said. "In contrast, (the companies) have demonstrated a risk of short-term economic harm."


Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23261573.htm

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http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10997518

[H2O Man]

1. Good n/t

[femmocrat]

2. K&R

And they need to demand that the next judge to disclose any allegiance to big oil.

[LandR]

3. Previous Moratorium Was Too Narrow

The previous moratorium put an entire sector of the oil and gas industries out of business, but only the oil rig workers who were out of work as a result of the moratorium were paid for their lost labor costs. Also, these oil rig workers were to be paid with a special $100 million fund that BP setup separate from the $20 billion fund. Bobby Jindal noted that the oil and gas industries were losing about $330 million each month in direct wages because of the moratorium, so the next moratorium will likely provide evidence as to why this moratorium should be in place and why BP should also pay the lost labor costs for the associated businesses. If these businesses aren't compensated, then they will of course continue to try to block any moratorium. We will see.

[rhett o rick]

4. Much to do about nothing. All we need to do is do safety checks and shut down

those wells that dont pass. Duh!

[quaker bill]

6. Not so much Duh! apparently

they actually did all the federal safety checks within the last 30 days and, curiously, all the rigs passed. This fact is at the heart of the oil industry defense.

[rhett o rick]

8. Personally I dont trust those in charge of the inspections. And we need a hard look

at the current safety requirements. Most likely too lenient.

[Bragi]

9. Great, we can then pretend deepwater extraction is "safe"

I have trouble understanding anyone who thinks that the moratorium on deepwater oil drilling and extraction should end.

Seriously, what further evidence do we need to conclude that industry does not have the knowledge or ability to "safely" drill and extract oil from miles below the ocean surface, and to prove that we do not have the knowledge or ability to stop and clean up any ultra-deepwater blowouts that may occur?

Is not the current uncontrolled blowout and killing off much of the American portion of the Gulf sufficient evidence to stop and reassess the whole idea of deepwater drilling?

And if this evidence is insufficient, then what will be needed for us to wake up?

How much of the ocean ecosystem do we have to kill off to prove to ourselves that we can't do this "safely"?

My view is that this moratorium should not end, and that we should not be engaged in high-risk, potentially catastrophic extraction of deepwater oil until we are so low in oil that we have no alternative.

- B

[rhett o rick]

10. I agree with you. I did badly making my point above. I agree a moratorium is waranted

for deep water extraction until it can be proven safe. My poor attempt was to indicate that a moratorium is not the only avenue, but is showier than making and enforcing strict regulations.

[me b zola]

5. K&R

[Posteritatis]

7. Removing Feldman from the bench couldn't hurt either

When you've got tens of thousands of dollars in stock from drilling companies, you don't get to rule on matters pertaining to them.