Judge Affirms Restraining Order On Drilling Ban

If you will recall, earlier this week a Federal Court judge issued a restraining order on Obama's six-month ban for deep water drilling in the Gulf. I wrote about the original order, Obama's intention to ignore it, and when the plaintiffs filed to stop Salazar from just issuing a new ban.

That hearing was held yesterday via telephone, and oral arguments were not heard. Judge Martin Feldman refused to delay the implementation of his restraining order, and ordered the government to comply. The DOJ says notices have gone out to the drilling companies affected by it.
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/US-Gulf-Oil-Spill/2010/06/24/id/363012

A federal judge who overturned a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling imposed after Gulf oil spill refused Thursday to put his ruling on hold while the government appeals.

The Justice Department had asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman to delay his ruling until the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans can review it. Feldman rejected that request Thursday.

The Justice Department said in court papers that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has instructed all employees not to enforce the moratorium. Rig operators are getting letters that say suspension notices they received have no legal effect right now.

No word on whether Feldman dealt with the issue of a new ban being issued by Salazar... as he has already threatened to do.

For the record, the judge was correct in his ruling. Banning everything because of troubles on one rig assumes facts not in evidence and punishes the other rigs for no reason.

By the way, the whole concept of asking the Judge to delay his restraining order was stupid in the first place. The restraining order was issued as immediate relief for the drilling companies. If IMMEDIATE relief hadn't been required, he wouldn't have issued the order in the first place. Asking him to delay his original order was, in effect, asking him to admit error.

So it wasn't going to happen.

Now, if Salazar has specific information about problems on individual rigs, now is the time to put it together and start issuing orders for safety reviews on those rigs. But the orders will have to be backed by data showing that the rigs being shut down have problems... something the original, all-inclusive report lacked.