Obama Asks Court to Reinstate Ban on Deepwater Drilling

By JOHN M. BRODER | July 7, 2010

WASHINGTON — 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 the unprecedented emergency of the BP oil spill.

In a court filing late Tuesday, the Interior 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 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 challenged in court by Hornbeck Offshore Services, a Louisiana 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. Despite Judge Feldman’s ruling reversing the moratorium, work on the wells has not resumed pending appeals.

In replying Tuesday to Judge Feldman’s order, the Interior Department, joined by the Justice Department, stated that the continued suspension of drilling was required because continued operations without new safety measures threatened irreparable harm to the marine and coastal environment across the gulf. The government also said that the BP oil spill had 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 said, “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 said.

“A short-term suspension of deepwater drilling while safety regulations are updated is necessary to achieve that goal,” the document stated.