Halt On US Offshore Oil Drilling Lifted

[Sionnach Glic]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A federal judge struck down the Obama administration's six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, saying the government rashly concluded that because one rig failed, the others are in immediate danger, too.

The White House promised an immediate appeal. The Interior Department had halted approval of any new permits for deepwater drilling and suspended drilling of 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama believes strongly that drilling at such depths does not make sense and puts the safety of workers "at a danger that the president does not believe we can afford."

Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide other services to offshore drilling rigs asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans to overturn the moratorium.

They argued it was arbitrarily imposed after the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 workers and blew out the well 5,000 feet underwater. It has spewed anywhere from 67 million to 127 million gallons of oil into the Gulf.

Feldman sided with the companies, saying in his ruling the Interior Department assumed that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.

"The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an unprecedented, sad, ugly and inhuman disaster," he wrote. "What seems clear is that the federal government has been pressed by what happened on the Deepwater Horizon into an otherwise sweeping confirmation that all Gulf deepwater drilling activities put us all in a universal threat of irreparable harm."

His ruling prohibits federal officials from enforcing the moratorium until a trial is held. He did not set a trial date.

The Interior Department said it needed time to study the risks of deepwater drilling. But the lawsuit filed by Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, La., claimed there was no proof the other operations posed a threat.

Company CEO Todd Hornbeck said after the ruling that he is looking forward to getting back to work.

"It's the right thing for not only the industry but the country," he said.

Earlier in the day, executives at a major oil conference in London warned that the moratorium would cripple world energy supplies. Steven Newman, president and CEO of Transocean Ltd., owner of the rig that exploded, called it an unnecessary overreaction. BP PLC was leasing the rig.

"There are things the administration could implement today that would allow the industry to go back to work tomorrow without an arbitrary six-month time limit," Newman told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.

The moratorium was declared May 6 and originally was to last only through the month. Obama announced May 27 that he was extending it for six months.

In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal and corporate leaders said that would force drilling rigs to leave the Gulf of Mexico for lucrative business in foreign waters.

They said the loss of business would cost the area thousands of lucrative jobs, most paying more than $50,000 a year. The state's other major economic sector, tourism, is a largely low-wage industry.

Tim Kerner, the mayor of Lafitte, La., cheered Feldman's ruling.

"I love it. I think it's great for the jobs here and the people who depend on them," said Kerner, whose constituents make their living primarily from commercial fishing or oil.

But in its response to the lawsuit, the Interior Department said the moratorium is needed as attempts to stop the leak and clean the Gulf continue and new safety standards are developed.

"A second deepwater blowout could overwhelm the efforts to respond to the current disaster," the Interior Department said.

The government also challenged contentions the moratorium would cause long-term economic harm. Although 33 deepwater drilling sites were affected, there are still 3,600 oil and natural gas production platforms in the Gulf.

Catherine Wannamaker, a lawyer for environmental groups that intervened in the case and supported the moratorium, called the ruling "a step in the wrong direction."

"We think it overlooks the ongoing harm in the Gulf, the devastation it has had on people's lives," she said. "The harm at issue with the Deepwater Horizon spill is bigger than just the Louisiana economy. It affects all of the Gulf."

[BigJKU316]

This is all so silly.

Sometimes bad things just happen. The ban was nothing more than political point scoring anyway. Just months before the explosion the administration was touting off-shore drilling and encouraging its expansion.

There might or might not have been a ton of things just flat done wrong at this particular platform. But sometimes things just go wrong in the worst way. That is part of human progress. Take your lumps and move on down the road. Until someone invents another way to power our economy we need the oil.

I would love nothing better than to drive a fuel cell car with hydrogen made in plants powered by clean fusion reactors. But until that is working we are stuck dealing with what we have. Demonizing oil companies after we drive or fly to a protest in our car or plane is just stupid.

[Mikey]

Agreed. Instituting a better system of regulation - and enforcement of such - on drilling would make more sense than just banning it for six months and then resuming business as usual.

However, if the Interior Department can refuse to issue drilling permits at will, what's to stop a de facto moratorium, if not a legislated one?

[BigJKU316]

They could be held in contempt of court I believe if they refused to process a lawful application.

[Mikey]

I meant before the moratorium was instated. Sure, a denial could be litigated but poof - there's your six months.

[Tsukiyumi]

I think that if they don't know how to safely and responsibly drill at those depths (which they obviously don't), they shouldn't be allowed to.

End of line.

[BigJKU316]

I think that if they don't know how to safely and responsibly drill at those depths (which they obviously don't), they shouldn't be allowed to.

End of line.

Is someone incapable of driving a car because they get in one wreck?

There are thousands of oil platforms in the world. Sometimes things just go bad.

[Tsukiyumi]

This is more like letting a teenager drive an 18-wheeler hauling jet fuel, IMO. if it goes bad, it goes really f*cking bad, and they have no idea what they're doing.

[Nickswitz]

I have to agree with Tsu here, it's not like were talking about drilling oil wells into the ground, were talking about drilling deep into the surface of the earth, where they know very little about, and expecting nothing to go wrong. And even something the scale of the BP isn't wrong, even a fairly smaller problem happening could cause a great deal of damage to the environment.

So although expecting that all other rigs will fail as bad as BP's is very foolish, they don't need to fail as bad as BP's to cause a lot of damage to the environment. So I think Obama was right in halting it for the time being, at least until BP cleans up and they can put stricter regulations on the running of the oil rigs.

[Lazar]

Likewise, I agree with Tsuki. One car wreck is an unfortunate, but small, statistic; one oil rig accident is enough to devastate hundreds of miles of sea and coastline.

[Nickswitz]

As well as the waters being completely polluted beyond immediate repair, people in the gulf no longer have jobs, a lot of jobs, I believe the statistic was somewhere around 60% of workers in the Gulf are sea workers, either fishermen, trawler workers, etc. None of them can go to work, either because their product is completely polluted, or it is unsaid to be out on the oil, which workers who work with BP on cleaning up are already getting sick from being on the oil all the time.

[Sionnach Glic]

Since we're not going to be switching over to nuclear power any time soon, we're stuck drilling for oil. The simple fact is that we have to continue drilling, as we've no other alternatives.

Were it my decision, I'd begin construction of shitloads of new nuclear power plants and let oil companies know that, though we need them for now, I'd be willing to drop a tonne of bricks on top of them if there's news of another leak.

The only realistic thing I can see that would help is a severe tightening of safety regulations and random checks on each oil rig to make sure everything is working fine.

[Nickswitz]

Yeah, sadly people are still afraid of Nuclear energy, because oil energy has never hurt anyone..

But yes, if they do want to continue drilling fine, but as Sionnach said, strictly regulate them and have random inspections. That way at least it will be safer, oh, and if they aren't up snuff they are closed, immediately until it's fixed up and the next inspection crew comes along.

[stitch626]

The simple fact is that we have to continue drilling, as we've no other alternatives.

That must be their plan, to forcibly run out of oil and then be forced to switch to nuclear.

[BigJKU316]

I have to agree with Tsu here, it's not like were talking about drilling oil wells into the ground, were talking about drilling deep into the surface of the earth, where they know very little about, and expecting nothing to go wrong. And even something the scale of the BP isn't wrong, even a fairly smaller problem happening could cause a great deal of damage to the environment.

So although expecting that all other rigs will fail as bad as BP's is very foolish, they don't need to fail as bad as BP's to cause a lot of damage to the environment. So I think Obama was right in halting it for the time being, at least until BP cleans up and they can put stricter regulations on the running of the oil rigs.

Yeah, but its all pie in the sky nonsense until we reduce our dependence on oil. We need it, and we have to drill to get it.

I agree with tighter regulations but it also seems like you need a pretty thick rug to be one of the gulf states that was voting "Drill Baby Drill" and has made CRAPTONS of money of the petrochemical busienss and are some of the strongest supporters of the oil industry in congress to suddenly want all these bans put in place because this time it got them.

Either we need the oil or we don't. I happen to believe we do need it right now so because of that we have to keep drilling. Now we could got to a national policy hoping to use a rise in gas and oil prices over time to force us away from dependance. This would actually make sense and then it would make sense to not allow more drilling.

Higher gas prices would mean alternative energy would be more competitive. However it also means a lot of lost jobs, higher food prices, higher transportation prices and inflation. Who wants to sign up for that?