A federal judge in Louisiana, Martin Feldman, has found the federal government in contempt of court for defying his order striking down a ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Bloomberg News reports:
The Offshore Marine Service Association, a group representing offshore service vessels and shipyards, urged the president to end what it called an informal moratorium on offshore drilling.
"President Obama claims to have lifted the Gulf moratorium, yet not a single deepwater permit has been issued in nine months," Jim Adams, the association's president, said in a release after the ruling. "As a result, thousands of workers are out of jobs, Americans are paying more for gasoline and heating oil, and our nation is becoming even more dependent on unstable nations for our energy needs."
