Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said late Tuesday that he plans to press ahead with the Obama Administration's plans for a moratorium on deepwater drilling despite a district court ruling against Salazar's initial order for such a moratorium.
Salazar said in a statement Tuesday evening that the new order will contain additional information making clear why the six-month drilling pause was necessary in the wake of the Gulf oil spill. The judge in New Orleans who struck down the moratorium earlier in the day complained there wasn't enough justification for it.
In addition to Salazar's new order, which will be issued in the next couple of days, the White House is appealing the district court ruling. The judge in that ruling, 1983 Reagan appointee Martin Feldman, is coming under fire for owning stocks in 17 different energy companies, including several companies involved the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster.