Bloomberg.com is reporting today that U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman has ruled that the Obama Administration acted in contempt of court by continuing its deepwater drilling moratorium after the court had struck it down.
According to the article:
"Interior Department regulators acted with "determined disregard" by lifting and reinstituting a series of policy changes that restricted offshore drilling, following the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, U.S. District Judge, Martin Feldman of New Orleans ruled yesterday.
""Each step the government took following the court's imposition of a preliminary injunction showcases its defiance," Feldman said in the ruling.
""Such dismissive conduct, viewed in tandem with the re- imposition of a second blanket and substantively identical moratorium, and in light of the national importance of this case, provide this court with clear and convincing evidence of the government's contempt," Feldman said."
The Presidency was never intended to be all-powerful. There are three branches of the American government--the Presidency, the Congress, and the Judicial--they are designed to create checks and balances on each other's power. The Obama Administration's ignoring of a judicial ruling is disturbing.
The article reports:
""President Obama claims to have lifted the Gulf moratorium, yet not a single deepwater permit has been issued in nine months," Jim Adams, the association's president, said in a release after the ruling. "As a result, thousands of workers are out of jobs, Americans are paying more for gasoline and heating oil, and our nation is becoming even more dependent on unstable nations for our energy needs."
"Feldman also ordered the government to pay the legal fees of Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC, which filed the initial lawsuit. The company had described the fees as "significant."
"The case is Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC v. Salazar, 2:10-cv-01663, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana New Orleans)."
As the price of oil rises to $100 a barrel, the informal moratorium on deepwater drilling is dragging the American economy down. The moratorium needs to end.
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