Court Grants Speedy Hearing for U.S. on Drill Ban

[eowyn_of_rohan]

Source: Bloomberg - Business Week

June 29 (Bloomberg) -- A federal appeals court granted the U.S. an expedited hearing on its request to delay enforcement of a judge’s order overturning a ban on deep-water drilling. The appeals court today scheduled the hearing for July 8 and told lawyers for the companies that successfully challenged the ban in a lower court to file responses to the government’s request by July 2.

....The government is seeking to delay an order by U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman that scrapped the six-month drilling ban, imposed May 27 after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April. President Barack Obama said the moratorium, covering waters deeper than 500 feet, was needed to give a presidential commission time to study offshore operations safety as the BP Plc oil spill became the largest in U.S. history.

...Feldman ruled June 22 that the measure was overly broad and two days later denied a U.S. request to put his order on hold while regulators appealed. The U.S. filed notice of appeal June 23. On June 25, the government asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans to stay the order.

“The district court committed legal error and abused its discretion in issuing its preliminary injunction order,” government lawyer Sambhav Sankar said in a June 25 appeals court filing seeking a stay. The moratorium is essential to ensure public safety and further investigation is needed before it should be lifted, the government argued.



Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-29/court-grant...

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Good News! Hope this isn't a dupe