By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A federal judge in New Orleans has blocked a
six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects that was
imposed in response to the massive Gulf oil spill.
The White House says President Barack Obama's administration
will appeal.
Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide
other services to offshore drilling rigs had asked U.S. District
Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans to overturn the moratorium.
The administration halted the approval of any new permits for
deepwater drilling and suspended drilling at 33 exploratory wells
in the Gulf.
Feldman says in his ruling that the Interior Department failed
to provide adequate reasoning for the moratorium. He says it seems
to assume that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing
deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
