MENU
MENU
Posted in Deepwater Horizon,Environment,Government,Gulf Coast,Louisiana Maritime News,Maritime Law on January 14, 2011
NEW ORLEANS, La — Ensco Offshore Drilling, an offshore drilling services company, asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman Wednesday, Jan 12, to rule that government regulators have unreasonably delayed action on deepwater drilling permit applications even after lifting a drilling moratorium imposed in the wake of the massive Gulf oil spill.
Ensco asked Judge Feldman to issue a preliminary injunction that would require the Interior Department to “expeditiously” process five pending permit applications in which the company has a contractual stake.
Ensco attorney Adam Feinberg suggested Feldman could rule that the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management must process these applications within 30 days.
The judge said he hoped to rule on that request later this month.
The government lifted its temporary ban on deepwater drilling in October. Since then, offshore operators have submitted 13 permit applications for drilling activities that were barred under the moratorium, but none have been approved, Feinberg said.
“We believe there’s been a pattern of bad faith,” Feinberg said.
Feldman, who said the government’s drilling restrictions have cost an estimated 9,000 to 12,000 jobs, asked Justice Department attorney Guillermo Montero to define what would be a reasonable time period for the government to act on permit applications.
“When will these jobs be restored?” the judge asked.
Montero said every application is different.
“I cannot say in the abstract what a reasonable time is to process any particular application,” he said. “Every application is its own different monster.”
Adam Babich, a lawyer for environmental groups that supported the moratorium, suggested Ensco is asking Feldman to micromanage a government program.
“I’m not going to do that,” the judge interjected. “Nobody elected me senator or congressman”
The government imposed its initial version of the moratorium after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the spill.
Read Full Story at Huffington Post
Related Searches:
Louisiana maritime lawyer
Houston maritime lawyer