Litigation

Judge grants preliminary injunction against deepwater drilling moratorium

By Ted Frank

This Court is persuaded that the public interest weighs in favor of granting a preliminary injunction. While a suspension of activities directed after a rational interpretation of the evidence could outweigh the impact on the plaintiffs and the public, here, the Court has found the plaintiffs would likely succeed in showing that the agency's decision was arbitrary and capricious. An invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in depths of over 500 feet simply 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. Accordingly, the plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction is GRANTED.

See Hornbeck Offshore Svcs., LLC v. Salazar, No. 10-1663 (E.D. La.) (Feldman, J.); NYT; Olson link roundup. The government will appeal, as well as try to get its ducks in a row on the administrative side.

Full post as published by Point of Law on June 23, 2010 (boomark / email).