Obama’s bid to restore ban on deepwater drilling is rejected
AN APPEALS court in the US has maintained a ruling made by a lower court to lift a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling imposed by the Obama administration.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit made the decision only an hour after the arguments were made yesterday.
The move comes as the Obama administration is preparing to issue a revised ban on deepwater drilling below 500 feet.
It had inflicted the mortorium after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 people, so that it could launch an investigation into the incident.
Officials from the interior department had said prior to the court’s decision that the government would not impose a new ban, if the court supported the original drilling moratorium.
The ban was first lifted by the court after drilling companies like Hornbeck Offshore Services and Diamond Offshore Drilling claimed the moratorium was too broad and would have a severe financial impact.
Interior secretary Ken Salazar said a stay on the ban was urgent because of the imminent hurricane season.