Bad Decision Overturns Drilling Moratorium

by rebb

crossposted at intlawgrrls

On June 22, Judge Martin Feldman of the Eastern District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction overturning the Department of Interior’s May 28, 2010 Temporary Moratorium on deepwater drilling. Several facets of this decision are truly astonishing. Nowhere in the decision is there any recognition of the unique, emergency circumstances or the grave threat to the public that the agency was seeking to combat. Nor did the judge pay much attention to the express and explicit congressional intention that offshore oil activities be suspended when necessary to protect against environmental threats.

continued at Daily Kos....

BP's Oil Bomb: Looking Back At Sick Salt Marshes, 40 Years Later & A Decade After Exxon Valdez

by papicek

Author's Note: There is nothing new in this diary. I write this because, while many of us watch and comment on the car wreck that is BP's oil volcano, it behooves us to remember the effects of what we will all witness in the decades to come. This diary contains no links to video feeds, no fascinating images of sexy technology. We've been focused on this to the detriment of the real story: the long lasting biological effects that Gulf Coast residents will have to live with the rest of their lives. If you want to find those links, they're here. (Leave a rec there, please.) The material I choose here is largely taken from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and papers by Dr. Jeffrey Short. Any errors or misinterpretations are my fault, and corrections are welcome. Please donate a rec and help keep the BP Oilpocalypse Liveblog Mothership up. It costs nothing and if you don't do it, who will?

continued at Daily Kos....