DOJ Asks Court To Stay Drilling Moratorium Ruling Until Appeal

25th Jun 2010 23:42

By Tennille Tracy Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The Obama administration has asked a court to allow it to maintain a moratorium on offshore oil drilling until it can appeal an earlier ruling that struck down its ban. In a motion filed Friday with the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the government said its six-month moratorium is "crucially important to protect human health and the environment from another deepwater drilling disaster while [Department of] Interior investigates the Deepwater Horizon event and acts to prevent another similar disaster from happening." The motion, filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, follows a ruling Tuesday by a U.S. District Court in Louisiana in which a judge struck down the government's moratorium, calling it "heavy handed." That ruling allowed oil companies to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, although it was unclear just how many would actually do so until the matter is finally resolved. If the court rules in favor of the government in this motion, the Obama administration will be able to maintain its moratorium until a ruling on the appeal is decided. -By Tennille Tracy, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6619; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 25, 2010 18:42 ET (22:42 GMT)