U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman is the judge who rejected the first attempt by the Obama administration to impose a moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP (NYSE:BP) oil spill, and he again chastised the administration by throwing out the new regulations accompanying the moratorium, which weren't addressed in the original moratorium case.
Feldman based his ruling on the administration not giving oil and gas companies notice and a chance to make comments on the 10 new rules.
“NTL-05 imposes additional duties on operators and lessees. Notice and comment were required by law. The government did not comply and the NTL-05 is of no lawful force or effect,” said Feldman.
While the second moratorium was recently lifted, the Interior Department rules known as NTL-05 remained in force, that is until the judge threw them out.
On November 3 a lawsuit which challenged the moratorium will be considered for whether or not it will be allowed to go forward. The government has asked for it to be dismissed.
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