Drilling moratorium overturned by judge with oil business holdings

A federal judge overturned the six-month deep water drilling moratorium within the Gulf of Mexico. The ruling that was issued on Tuesday cited economic hardship as a result of the ban and said the government overreached by suspending all deep-water drilling operations either in progress or prepared in the gulf. Oil companies hailed the ruling. The Department of Justice said they would 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 into the sea.

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Possibility of drilling moratorium judge being invested in oil

The drilling moratorium was overturned by Judge Martin L.C. Feldman. It was reported by ABC News 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 “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 granted a preliminary injunction to Hornbeck Offshore Services to lift the drilling moratorium, saying that he believed the government “failed to cogently reflect the decision to issue a blanket, generic, indeed punitive, moratorium.”

Uncertainty involving deep water drilling in future

The moratorium was imposed to give a presidential panel time to come up with recommendations on how to avoid a repeat of the BP oil spill disaster. As outlined by the Los Angeles Times, it remains uncertain whether the Interior Department would have to begin issuing new permits to drill. With an appeal virtually certain to have come from the Obama administration, some analysts are doubting 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.

Oil companies spin drilling moratorium

On today's ruling, the American Petroleum Institute explained in a written statement, “The moratorium was an original response to concerns about the safety of offshore oil and natural gas operations. However, 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.”

Containment failure for BP oil spill

In the mean time, it is reported by CNN that government estimates indicate as much as 60,000 barrels (2.5 million gallons) of oil may be flowing to the Gulf every single day, and the gusher has already taken a significant toll on tourism and the fishing industry in Gulf Coast states. On Tuesday BP announced 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 the most ever collected; the previous record was set June 18 when 25,290 barrels were picked up. 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.

Additional data at these websites
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