US judge to rule by Wednesday on drilling freeze

[Ed Barrow]

Source: Agence France Presse

A US federal judge could rule as early as Tuesday on a case brought by 32 oil industry companies seeking to overturn a six-month freeze on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

"I am going to take a look at everything again," judge Martin Feldman told a hearing Monday, adding he would rule no later than midday (1700 GMT) Wednesday but it could be as early as 1700 GMT Tuesday.

Oil industry service firms hit by the Obama administration's six-month moratorium imposed in the wake of the April 20 explosion on a BP-leased rig off Louisiana are challenging the restrictions before a New Orleans district court.

With oil still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, President Barack Obama has slapped a freeze on new deepwater drilling until late November and curtailed parts of the offshore oil industry.





Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ixrfo6wLF3i7RM4JXbvsGN38lQpg

[lonestarnot]

1. Honorable Martin Feldman. What does anyone know about him?

[PADemD]

2. Info here

http://www.aaas.org/spp/case/feldman.htm

[lonestarnot]

3. My money on he will rule for oil. Thanks for the link.

[lonestarnot]

8. How much did I win?

[kristopher]

5. This tells you all you need to know...

The Honorable Martin Feldman Esq.

[TomCADem]

4. Amazing! - The Oil Industry Insists That Drilling Is Safe...

...Even though there is no proven method for stopping an oil leak AND congressional hearings show that the oil industry's spill response plans are identical to BP's. Arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion? Seriously. Take a look outside! There is f***** environmental disaster that is wiping out the environment and fishing industry, yet a judge might that the Obama administration does not have a rational basis for imposing such a moratorium?!?!?

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 told Feldman.

Hornbeck Offshore Services, which first filed the case, says 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 (152 meters) 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.

[lonestarnot]

6. Certainly won't be the rule of law, just a way to manipulate it.

[bluestateguy]

7. If they want an activist judge to overturn it, fine.

Then the next step should be for the Obama Administration to say that while we will continue to work day and night on the BP spill, should another spill occur from the deepwater wells, that the Gulf Coast is on its own to clean it up and the government will do absolutely nothing about it.

[lonestarnot]

9. Harsh. Just for one fuckwit ruling by a stockholder?