Energy Environmental Blog

Interior Department Held In Contempt

Written by Greg Russell | Feb 4, 2011 2:53:46 PM

The U.S. Department of Interior - for its moratorium activities related to the Gulf of Mexico - has been held in contempt by Judge Martin Feldman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, according to this article in the Politico.  The order finds, interestingly:

[T]hat the government did not simply reimpose a blanket moratorium; rather, each step the government took following the Court’s imposition of a preliminary injunction showcases its defiance: the government failed to seek a remand; it continually reaffirmed its intention and resolve to restore the moratorium; it even notified operators that though a preliminary injunction had issued, they could quickly expect a new moratorium. Such dismissive conduct, viewed in tandem with the reimposition 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 of this Court’s preliminary injunction Order.

The article has a link to the order itself.  Worth a look.