Thursday, February 03, 2011

"Determined Disregard" of Judge's Ruling on Drilling Moratorium by Obama Administration

What? No outrage that a department of the government has taken it upon itself to abide by the legal decisions it likes and disregard the ones that don't fall in line with the Obama agenda?

Where are the questions of Barack Obama about this little nugget of information from the world of offshore oil drilling?

The Obama Administration acted in contempt by continuing its deep water drilling moratorium after the policy was struck down, a New Orleans judge ruled.

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 Secretary of Interior seems to have made the complete halt to offshore oil drilling his personal mission. He uses his political ideology as his justification. To review, Salazar imposed a moratorium on offshore oil drilling in deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon. Eleven lives were lost. The other drilling rigs in use at the time in the Gulf of Mexico were inspected and all passed safety and operational requirements. Yet, the moratorium remained in place and was eventually struck down in federal court. Not satisfied, Salazar issued a second moratorium which was lifted just before the judge heard that case. Salazar knew he would lose that one, too. In addition, the additional layers of bureaucracy and regulations have been ruled as overreach. Salazar has lost each time. Yet, he continues.

There is a case being prepared for trial from those directly affected by the irrational acts by the Interior Department and President Obama. The service workers and small businesses who have lost millions of dollars and thousands of jobs deserve their own day in court.

The Interior Department is currently using a particularly underhanded method of squashing offshore oil drilling - that of deliberately slowing the process of issuing permits and continuing permits for those drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil drilling industry is the most regulated and most taxed industry in our country. Once drilling begins, the need for continuing permits carries on. If the permits are not issued, drilling ceases.

The price of crude oil is up. Our reliance on foreign oil sources is up, thanks to bad decisions by reactionary ideologues in Washington, D.C. with far too much power and inflated egos. Wait until mom and dad are paying $4.00 a gallon to fill up the minivan to visit grandmother this summer. Maybe someone will notice long enough to start demanding answers then.

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