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Court refuses stay in deepwater drilling case
1 of 20. A decomposed fish lies in the water as workers pick up oil balls from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Waveland, Mississippi July 7, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Lee Celano
NEW ORLEANS/WASHINGTON |
NEW ORLEANS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Thursday rejected the Obama administration's request to stay a lower court decision to lift a six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling in the wake of the BP Plc oil spill.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans, ruled about an hour after hearing arguments.
Its decision will likely prompt the Interior Department to quickly issue a revised moratorium order on deepwater drilling below 500 feet to address concerns raised by the federal courts.
The Obama administration imposed the moratorium amid public criticism over its response to the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history and had argued that its reinstatement was needed to investigate the cause of the BP well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico and ensure other rigs were operating safely.
Drilling companies, like Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc. and Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc., have pressed to have the moratorium lifted, saying it was too broad and was causing significant economic harm.
The administration said it imposed the moratorium to allow for an investigation of the April 20 drilling rig explosion that killed 11 men and triggered the spill.
Now in its 80th day, the flow of oil is killing birds, sea turtles and dolphins, imperiling multibillion-dollar fishing and tourist industries at a time of high unemployment, and soiling the shores of all five U.S. Gulf Coast states.
The oil industry, however, fears that the crisis could put costly projects on hold.
BP's New York share price on Thursday rose about 2 percent, adding to gains of 24 percent in the previous eight trading days on talk company executives were seeking new investors and optimism the worst might be behind BP.
(Additional reporting by Mary Rickard in New Orleans; Writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Paul Simao)
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To day is 80th day, since the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. Oil keeps gushing from the leaking well into the Gulf of Mexico. The amount of spilled oil now is around 336 000 000 gallons.
BP significantly reduces this rate motivated by the fact that the daily capturing 15-20 thousand barrels of oil.
I have repeatedly explained, no matter how much oil BP capturing from the Cap, because the pump creates inside the Cap additional negative pressure which immediately compensated by the pressure in the petroleum layer and accompanied by an additional release of oil, correlated with this negative pressure.
So, the amount of gushing oil unchanged or unaltered is about 90-120 thousand barrels per day.
There are many people like myself, who would like to give alternative methods to BP and the government but lack the contacts to meet the right people. BP lacks thinking “outside of the box” and continues to solve its problems to the “best” of their knowledge.
Using my know-how and liquid nitrogen oil freezing equipment we can shut the well during the nearest 3 weeks.
Constantine Balakiryan, PhD, Professor.
This is what happens when you don’t federalize the Oil Industry; people make careless, lazy and greedy choices, ingore known risks and cut corners. The Petroleum Futures Market needs to be shut down, too. It has artificially inflated the price of oil by at least 1000%. People shouldn’t be making money for nothing — that’s not the American Way.
Recall how the US had 55 mph for 20+ years to save fuel and then after that we could legally buy and drive a new Hummer at 70-75 mph.
Hate to say this but the USA seems like a pretty dumb country.
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