Drill, baby, drill

So much for Barack Obama’s moratorium on deep-water drilling. A federal judge has struck down the White House ban on new permits for deepwater drilling and the suspension of drilling at 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf. The moratorium was imposed in light of the ongoing spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but companies and individuals who depend on the drilling complained it was arbitrary. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman agreed, saying the Interior Department “cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country.” The White House has already said it would appeal the decision.

New York Times