Judge blocks Gulf drilling ban (Houston)

A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday blocked the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman ruled in favor of Hornbeck Offshore Services and several other companies who had petitioned to have the moratorium lifted, eliciting a swift promise of appeal from the White House, various media outlets reported.

“What seems clear is that the federal government has been pressed by what happened on the Deepwater Horizon into an otherwise sweeping confirmation that all Gulf deepwater drilling activities put us all in a universal threat of irreparable harm,” Feldman wrote.

The moratorium suspended work on 33 exploratory wells in the deepwater Gulf and iced plans for any future wells, causing the industry to cry foul and lament potential job loss.

The Houston Business Journal is providing continuous coverage of the Gulf oil spill.

Read more in the Houston Business Journal.