Courts Have Delivered Another Blow to Obama: Rejected Appeal to Allow Him to Reinstate Drilling Moratorium

The courts have delivered another blow to Obama on Thursday as they declined to allow him to reinstate the off-shore drilling moratorium:

A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected the federal government's effort to restore an offshore deepwater drilling moratorium, opening the door to resumed drilling in the Gulf while the legal fight continues.

The ruling is not the final word on the Obama administration's fight to suspend new drilling projects so it can study the risks revealed by the disastrous BP oil spill.

The same appeals court is expected to hear arguments on the merits of the moratorium case in late August or early September.

Just because it is legal for them to start drilling and allowing people to go back to work that doesn't mean that it will happen immediately. Since it is likely that Obama would appeal, some companies would rather not drill if they would just have to stop have to stop in a few months:

While it's possible that 33 exploratory wells suspended by the moratorium could resume drilling, companies might not bother with the expense while the ultimate future of the projects hangs in the balance.

Hopefully, this can be resolved soon as the people that rely on this industry for jobs to feed their families need to get their lives back to normal as soon as possible.