Deepwater Drilling
Obama asks Court to reinstate drilling ban
The Obama administration has asked a federal court in Louisiana to reinstate the ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, saying the moratorium was a rational response to an unprecedented emergency presented by the BP oil spill.
In a court filing late Tuesday, the Justice Department said that the six-month ban on drilling in more than 500 feet of water, imposed in late May, was necessary to allow time to adopt stricter safety and environmental regulation of deepwater wells.
The action has put hundreds of people who operate and service deepwater wells out of work and brought long-term uncertainty to one of the most important parts of the Gulf Coast economy. Politicians all along the coast have called the moratorium a case of federal overkill that threatens the livelihood of the region.
The moratorium was quickly challenged in court by Hornbeck Offshore Services, a Louisiana-based firm that provides goods and services to offshore drilling and pumping platforms. Judge Martin L.C. Feldman of the United States District Court in New Orleans agreed with the company and on June 22 issued an order blocking implementation of the moratorium. He said the Obama administration had failed to justify the need for "a blanket, generic, indeed punitive, moratorium" on deepwater oil and gas drilling.
The May moratorium order halted 33 exploratory drilling projects in deep water and suspended new permits, but did not affect platforms that were already in production. Judge Feldman's ruling reversed the moratorium, but work has not resumed on the wells pending appeals.
Tuesday's reply to Judge Feldman's order from the Interior and Justice departments states that the continued suspension of drilling is required because continued operations without new safety measures threatens irreparable harm to the marine and coastal environment across the gulf. The government also says that the BP oil spill has taxed the resources available to respond to and clean up the mess and that a second blowout would be impossible to address.
"Because this deepwater spill has been impossible to fully contain," the government reply says, "Interior had to take immediate action to minimize the risk of another spill, especially while efforts to contain and clean up this one are ongoing. The stakes are even higher now that it is hurricane season."
The Interior Department, which oversees oil and gas exploration on public lands and offshore, is charged with the "prudent and safe" management of those resources, the court filing says.
"A short-term suspension of deepwater drilling while safety regulations are updates is necessary to achieve that goal," the document states.
(Published by The New York Times – July 7, 2010)