Judge Blocks Drilling Moratorium, Barbour Praises Decision, WH Vows Appeal

A federal judge in New Orleans has lifted the six-month deepwater drilling moratorium put in place by the Obama administration following the Deepwater Horizon explosion in late April. Among other things, Louisiana attorney’s noted that the ban would affect as many as 20,000 jobs, and obviously many Mississippians work off shore or have jobs tied to the industry.

Haley Barbour has been an outspoken critic of the moratorium (along with practically every other leader from a state impacted by the decision), and took to Twitter to praise today’s decision: “Hope the ruling stopping the moratorium on offshore drilling will go into effect quickly and be upheld on appeal. Moratorium is bad policy.”

The White House quickly reacted and vowed to appeal the decision. “”The president strongly believes… that continuing to drill at these depths without knowing what happened does not make any sense, and puts the safety of those involved…and the environment in the Gulf at a danger that the president does not believe we can afford right now,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Update: Here is a statement from Sen. Roger Wicker on the decision: “I am encouraged by Judge Feldman’s ruling. If left in place, the deep water drilling moratorium has potential to become the third wave of this disaster. Thousands of people along the gulf coast will lose their jobs, and the cost of energy for all Americans will skyrocket. The Administration lacked justification for the ban, and now has an opportunity to right this wrong. Whatever the next step, I hope that the Fifth Circuit will act quickly to uphold the ruling.”

Update 2: And here is a statement from Sen. Thad Cochran: “The blanket moratorium on deepwater drilling added hardship to an already difficult situation on the Gulf Coast. As I understand it, the judge’s ruling seems sound. I hope the administration will now take a more reasoned approach to determining the true risks associated with offshore energy exploration in the Gulf.”