by Agence France-Presse. NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge Tuesday ruled against a six-month freeze imposed on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a blow to the White House. The Obama administration immediately said it would appeal. Judge Martin Feldman ruled in favor of 32 oil firms that challenged the moratorium on deepwater drilling and exploration. The moratorium had been imposed by the Obama administration in the wake of the massive Gulf oil spill. Feldman ruled that the oil firms’ motion for a preliminary injunction “is granted,” saying he was persuaded it was in the public interest to lift the freeze by the Minerals Management Service and the Interior Department. “The court has found the plaintiffs would likely succeed in showing that the agency’s decision was arbitrary and capricious,” Feldman said in his written ruling after Monday’s hearing in a New Orleans court. Describing the drilling decision as “invalid,” Feldman said the moratorium would affect employment and energy supplies and “will clearly ripple throughout the economy in this region.” The agency decision “simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country.” But White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, “We will immediately appeal to the Fifth Circuit.” “The president strongly believes, as the Department of Interior, Department of Justice argued yesterday, that continuing to drill at these depths without knowing what happened is — does not make any sense,” Gibbs said. The drilling “potentially puts the safety of those on the rigs and environment of the Gulf at a danger that the president does not believe we can afford right now.” With oil still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, Obama had put a freeze on new deepwater drilling until late November and curtailed parts of the offshore oil industry. But oil workers and executives along the Southern coast criticized the moves, which they say are driving business out of the Gulf and costing them their livelihoods. Carl Rosenblum, an attorney for some of the offshore oil companies, said in Monday’s hearing before Feldman that it was unprecedented for an entire industry to be punished. “Nothing we are asking for is contrary to safety,” he said, arguing that the moratorium will have a domino effect, with some companies already eyeing moves to Brazil and Africa rather than sitting idle. “There’s an ecosystem of businesses that are being harmed every day by this moratorium,” he insisted. Government lawyer Guillermo Montero replied that deepwater drilling was more complicated than many other industries and the government had to review and, if necessary, update its safety protocols. “The Deepwater Horizon incident was a game-changer. It really showed the risks inherent in deepwater drilling,” he said. Hornbeck Offshore Services, which first filed the case, said the Obama administration’s directive to halt drilling at 33 existing oil wells in the Gulf was “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion” and inconsistent with regulations governing the industry. It also says the restrictions were imposed without any proof that wells drilling beyond 500 feet presented any threat of a systemic failure such as the one that caused the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig to explode on April 20, triggering the disastrous leak. Related Links: Presidents keep failing to get us off oil, but Americans aren’t helping Public support for offshore drilling continues to plummet, despite GOP scare tactics Big Oil plays jobs card as it fights offshore-drilling moratorium
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Judge blocks Gulf deepwater drilling ban
