Here’s one I missed:
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late Thursday afternoon against the Obama administration in the ongoing legal battle over a moratorium on drilling for oil in offshore waters. The quick ruling came as a surprise, since Judge W. Eugene Davis had told the overflowing courtroom at the conclusion of the hearing that the decision would be handed down early next week.
The Department of Interior was petitioning to reinstate its ban on new offshore oil-drilling leases at sites in water more than 500 feet deep. At issue was the June 22 order by Judge Martin Feldman of the Eastern District Court in New Orleans overturning the moratorium. Feldman in ruled in Hornbeck v. Salazar that the drilling moratorium was over-broad and illegal. The case was brought by a coalition of businesses affected negatively by the drilling ban, led by Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, La. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was petitioning for a stay of Feldman’s decision, an order which would keep the moratorium in place pending a full appeal before the court several weeks from now.
Justice Department attorney Michael Gray, appearing on behalf of the Interior Department, told the court that the District Court had “abused its discretion” in overturning the moratorium. Gray went back and forth with the panel over how much harm the plaintiffs in the case could expect if the stay was granted, and if the Interior Department would suffer “irreparable harm” if the stay was denied.
via Judges rule against Obama administration on offshore oil drilling moratorium | The Daily Caller
But don’t think that the Obama Administration is going to give up.
In the 2-1 decision, the court turned down the administration’s application for the stay, saying “Secretary [Salazar] has failed to demonstrate a likelihood of irreparable injury if the stay is not granted; he has made no showing that there is any likelihood that drilling activities will be resumed pending appeal.” The latter comment was a reference to the de facto moratorium which has been in place since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in April. The decision allowed for the federal government to apply to the court for emergency relief should any deep-water rigs actually commence drilling before the full appeal is heard on an expedited calendar in the week of August 30.