Yes, folks. You heard that correctly. Back in June Judge Feldman of the US District Court in New Orleans had refused, at the Interior Department’s request, to delay the decision’s effects after he earlier struck down the moratorium. Now the judge has found the Interior Department in contempt for failure to adhere to his ruling.
House Natural Resources Committee Chair Doc Hastings released this statement today:
WASHINGTON, D.C., February 3, 2011 – House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement after Judge Martin Feldman yesterday found the Department of the Interior in contempt of court for continuing their moratorium on offshore drilling in the Gulf Coast.
“The federal judge’s initial ruling striking the offshore moratorium and his most recent decision to hold Interior in contempt of court correctly puts the letter of the law ahead of the Obama Administration’s agenda. Hopefully this ruling takes us one step closer to ending the de facto drilling moratorium in the Gulf, which will put people back to work and allow us to start producing more of our own energy at home.”
And US Senator David Vitter (R-LA) issued his own statement:
“Judge Feldman’s decision is a sharp rebuke of the Interior Department for continuing to place politics before all else following the BP spill. A ruling of this nature reveals that the judge believes that Interior blatantly disregarded his earlier ruling – undoubtedly because of their actions that led to the current de facto moratorium,” said Vitter. “Federal permitting has fallen off a cliff, and the resulting impact on Louisiana families, jobs and domestic energy production has caused a lot of pain in coastal Louisiana.”
Now let’s see if the Interior Department will comply…
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