The on-again off-again temporary ban on deepwater oil drilling in US waters has taken another turn, with Washington vowing to issue a fresh moratorium after a judge blocked an earlier freeze, citing that it would cause irreparable economic harm.
Yet the White House immediately said it would appeal district judge Martin Feldman's ruling in favour of 32 oil firms which challenged the moratorium imposed by President Barack Obama in the wake of the massive BP Deepwater Horizon spill.
And in a sign the administration was not backing down on its call for a halt so experts could determine what caused the disaster, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he would soon issue a new order to enforce a freeze on deepwater drilling in the Gulf.
Salazar defends decision
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Salazar insisted in a statement that the moratorium "was and is the right decision," and said there was daily evidence from BP's inability to stop its blowout and the billions spent on containment and cleanup efforts that showed the need for a pause.
"Based on this ever-growing evidence, I will issue a new order in the coming days that eliminates any doubt that a moratorium is needed, appropriate, and within our authorities," Salazar said.
Earlier Tuesday, Feldman said he was persuaded it was in the public interest to lift the freeze by the Minerals Management Service, adding the oil firms "would likely succeed in showing that the agency's decision was arbitrary and capricious."
Describing the drilling decision as "invalid," Feldman wrote in his ruling that the agency decision "simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the administration would "immediately" appeal the New Orleans judge's decision.
"The president strongly believes, as the Department of Interior, Department of Justice argued yesterday, that continuing to drill at these depths without knowing what happened does not make any sense," he said.
The drilling "potentially puts the safety of those on the rigs and environment of the Gulf at a danger that the president does not believe we can afford right now."
Huge blowout
A huge blowout at a well head on the sea floor caused the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon to explode and sink in April, killing 11 workers and unleashing the worst environmental disaster in US history.
Oil workers and executives along the southern US coast have criticized the moratorium for driving business out of the Gulf and costing them their livelihoods.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican who has criticized the Obama administration for reacting too slowly to the spill, described the judge's decision as "great news."
"The same people who are being impacted by this oil spill" would be the ones "impacted by economic devastation caused by this moratorium," Jindal told the Fox network.
Carl Rosenblum, an attorney for some of the offshore oil companies, said in Monday's hearing it was unprecedented that an entire industry should be punished.
"Nothing we are asking for is contrary to safety," he said, arguing the moratorium would have a domino effect with some companies already eyeing moves to Brazil and Africa rather than sitting idle.
Oil still flowing into sea
On Tuesday, oil spill response coordinator Admiral Thad Allen said a containment system had captured 25,836 barrels of oil from the gushing well head on the sea floor in the last 24 hours, and that more ships and equipment were being brought in to boost the effort.
But BP has admitted the spill will not be permanently capped until it completes two relief wells, with the first set to be finished in August.
US officials estimate between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels are pouring into the Gulf each day, but an internal BP document released by a US lawmaker Monday showed the firm contemplated a worst-case scenario of as much as 100,000 barrels, or 4.2 million gallons, a day.
The previous largest US oil spill, the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989, saw nearly 11 million gallons spilled off the Alaskan coast.
Using the low end of the US estimate, more than 90 million gallons have now spewed into the Gulf of Mexico.
BP said it has spent two billion dollars so far on cleaning up the spill and compensating residents and businesses that face ruin 64 days into the disaster.
On Tuesday it announced it was donating the revenue from the sale of oil recovered from the ruptured well to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which is engaged in preserving and restoring species affected by the spill, and said it was providing NFWF with an immediate donation of five million dollars.
