Gov't Says It's Complying with Moratorium Ruling

The High Park fire burns in Poudre Canyon, as seen from Glacier View Meadows, west of Fort Collins, Colo. on Tuesday, June 12, 2012. The fire has now burned more than 40,000 acres encompassing more than 65 square miles. (AP Photo/The Denver Post, Aaron Ontiveroz) MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT / Aaron Ontiveroz

The Obama administration says it is complying with a judge's ruling overturning a moratorium on new drilling in the Gulf - so a motion to enforce the order by opponents of the moratorium should be denied.

The Justice Department says in court papers that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has instructed all employees to not take any action to enforce the moratorium. It also says the department is sending letters to operators who received notices of suspension that those notices have no legal effect at this time.

Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf

The government is seeking a delay in the ruling overturning the moratorium while it appeals the decision. The moratorium had halted approval of any new permits for deep water projects and suspended drilling on 33 exploratory wells.

U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman rejected that request and has refused to stay his ruling while the government appeals to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

On Tuesday, he struck down the Interior Department's decision to halt approval of new permits for deepwater projects and suspend drilling on 33 exploratory wells.

More on the Disaster in the Gulf:

BP's Dudley Takes over as Point Man in Gulf
Tough Questions Confront Gulf Spill Claims Czar
White House Seeks New Oil Drilling Ban
Salazar Seeks to Re-impose Drilling Moratorium
Sources: Gov't Report Says Subsea Oil a Problem
Judge Who Tossed Drilling Ban an Oil Investor
Judge Blocks Offshore Drilling Moratorium
BP CEO's Stand-In Heckled at Oil Meeting
Sea Turtles Swimming Into Big Trouble
What Stops Oil Spills on Other Rigs?
Gulf Kids Devastated by Oil Spill

[truth_police]

Judge Feldman's 'oil investments' bias is evident in his ruling which has no logical or factual basis whatsoever. Feldman declared the moratorium "overly broad." Tim Howard (NWU Legal Prof), made a ludicrous statement in referring to the government's moratorium: "They (Obama Administration) overreacted and just shut an industry down, rather than focusing on where the problems are." This conclusively establishes Howard and Feldman as both factually 'clueless' and cerebrally short-handed. Regardless of whether anyone yet "fully knows why" this BP accident occurred, we know all we have to know to warrant a moratorium. There is absolutely no one in the World or in the Oil Industry who knows how to stop this leak, precisely because it happened in "deep water." Everyone has stated ad nauseam, there is no precedent for it, in such 'deep water' -- to serve as an instructive guide for how to stop the leak. For Feldman's & Howard's edification, that is sufficient to establish the gov't was "focusing on where the problems are." And that focus was sufficiently narrow to exclude all drilling that was NOT in "Deep Water." In "Deep Water Drilling" situations these Oil Industry dolts are clueless and can NOT give reasonable 'honest' environmental safety assurances. Judge Feldman is corrupt; he should have recused himself; and he had absolutely no legitimate factual or legal basis for this biased pro-oil ruling.

[RobAla]

Today I was talking with someone about the spokesperson for President Obama: who would want the job of explaining what this man has been doing? President Bush was nailed for returning from his vacation 4 days after Katrina. Upon returning, he almost immediately waived the Jones Act and allowed ships from other countries to come into our waters to assist us. Foreign countries offered to send ships to clean up the oil on day 3 of the BP oil leak, and President Obama waited until day 53 to give a waiver to the Jones Act. President Obama came to the gulf for the first time 13 days after the oil spill, and didn?t come back until day 39.

Between the initial leak and now, he has done the following:
Toured the country in attempts to convince the nation to support his political agenda, went on vacation, threw an expensive party at the White House, stood in agreement when the President of Mexico spoke out against Arizona Americans while addressing the US Congress, President Obama immediately piled on by speaking out against the people of Arizona for attempting to protect themselves from illegal immigrants (the job the federal government should have been doing), and then went around the country campaigning for people like Barbara Boxer. He didn?t meet with the CEO of BP for almost two months. This is a national disaster, an emergency situation.

The President has a duty to protect American people and property during a national disaster; but for days he said that the duty was only BPs. He only said he was taking charge the day prior to the ?top hat? attempt. He thought it would work. He wanted to take credit for something that he had no part of. For weeks the governor of Louisiana begged for the federal government to build sand bars to protect the coast of his state. After the oil reached shore and contaminated marshes and coastline, the President allowed some building of sand bars. Now the federal government has halted the building because they think it might hurt some elements of the environment. For almost 50 years, the US (not Mexico) has operated oil rigs at sea without a serious incident. Now that a foreign company has caused this disaster, the President has ordered a moratorium on all deep water drilling for 6 months. I am not an expert on drilling, but I can?t imagine the additional cost of shutting these things down and bringing them back up after 6 months. This moratorium means that the suffering of the gulf coast will be greatly increased because thousands of oil workers in the region will be laid off (this while 1 out of every 10 people in this country who want to work can not find a job). The US will have to be even more dependent on middle-eastern supplied oil, and they will be more able to drive the price of oil (remember how they fleeced us during the 70s oil embargo?).

Instead of actually helping during this disaster, the President has politicized a national disaster by using it to push his agenda of ?green energy? ? when green technology has not advanced to the point of meeting the vast energy needs of the US. He wants to use the disaster as a means of pushing the dying cap and trade bill, which would be a disaster in itself. During this recession, it would punish businesses and individuals by seriously raising the cost of energy. The President?s energy plans would cripple the nation.

BP screwed up. However, our President has done very little to help the situation. He has very little experience to fall back on during a crisis, and all he is really concerned about is his political agenda. If he can?t fit a situation into his agenda, he really isn?t interested. That?s why he hasn?t focused on jobs during this horrible recession. He has been concerned with his agenda that requires a massive federal government. We have dealt with recessions before, and we know what works. Cutting taxes on business and individuals and reducing the cost of government has helped each time. However, this doesn?t fit President Obama?s agenda. Who would want the job of explaining the actions and behavior of this President?

[rightbehind]

Hey! The clown judges juridiction ends at the beach!

[retm-w]

Well if that's the case then Obama has no jurisdiction since the well would be considered in international waters.

[rightbehind]

This clown judge has no jurisdiction beyond the beaches of those states in which his district operates. His jurisdiction ends at the beach.

[user000049586849302948602]

This goes to show that big oil and it's hired repuglitard cronies don't care about the dangers; they just want our money and the environment and related economies be damned.

[rightbehind]

This clown judge has no jurisdiction beyond the beaches of those states in which his district operates. Once it becomes sea the protection of those shores falls to the President of the United States. President Obama should clearly be enforcing this with the Coast Guard. This clown has clearly overstepped his jurisdiction. President Obama needs to uphold the integrity of the Office of the President. If he needs help all he has to do is call. I don't care if gas goes to 50 dollars a gallon and I have to read by candle light for the next 2 years.

[kastner64]

I hope the Judge will be paying the costs for the next disaster caused by his irresponsible judging.

[stn_sage]

It looks like the Democrats and Republicans in Washington, D.C. are 'joined at the hip' or united in the destruction of the world's oceans, because friends, that's exactly what's going on, and that's what's going to happen if these HUGE amounts of oil are allowed to pour into the ocean!

When 'it hits the fan', the politicians, bankers, and federal agents better have their places in the underground bunkers, because there won't be anyplace 'topside' they can go...safely!

What happened to the Al Gore story? I was hoping to read it again!
In an otherwise pretty serious time in history, it provided a little
laughter! Put it back up!

[screaminraven]

Of couse Obama is complying, afterall he wanted more offshore drilling before the spill...Little wonder he can't protect Federal [our] property; he doesn't want to

[rightbehind]

Laws come from the congress up. Not the President down. The spineless democrats folded to the drill here drill now nut cases.

[rightbehind]

Please President Obama. It's time to put this judge in front of the bench instead of behind it. I for one have seen enough nut cases. This judge is deeply in the pockets of big oil. He should have recused himself. Don't let a clown like this make a mockery of our Constitution and the office of the President

[jgg000101]

actually, I'd put ken salazar in front of a judge and find out why he lied about the oil spill committee's report.