Obama loses drilling moratorium appeal

Allen Johnson
AFP
July 9, 2010

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana — The Obama administration lost its bid to keep a six-month freeze on offshore drilling, and BP was to outline Friday its next steps to cap the well gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

A federal judge blocked the deepwater drilling moratorium last month after 32 oil companies and local officials argued it was causing irreparable economic harm.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday denied the administration’s emergency request to stay that judge’s order pending appeal.

The government failed to show “a likelihood of irreparable injury if the stay is not granted,” the appeals panel judges wrote in a 2-1 ruling.

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