Federal judge grants injunction, blocks Obama administration's drilling moratorium

Martin Leach-Cross Feldman federal judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana granted the motion for preliminary injunction, blocking the offshore drilling moratorium imposed by President Barack Obama's administration after BP Gulf oil spill.

This case asks whether the federal government’s imposition of a general moratorium on deepwater drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico was imposed contrary to law. Before the Court is the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction. For the following reasons, the motion is GRANTED.

The plaintiffs in this case provide a myriad of services to support offshore oil and gas drilling, exploration, and production activities in the Gulf of Mexico’s Outer Continental Shelf.1 They challenge the six-month moratorium on offshore drilling operations of new and currently permitted deepwater wells that was imposed on May 28, 2010 by the Department of the Interior and the Minerals Management Service.

FULL TEXT IN PDF FORMAT, Gulf Oil Spill Moratorium Decision (Hornbeck v. Salazar CA 10-1663)

Martin Leach-Cross Feldman (born 1934) is a United States federal judge.

Feldman was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He received a B.A. from Tulane University in 1955. He received a J.D. from Tulane Law School in 1957. He was in the United States Army Reserve Captain, JAG Corps from 1957 to 1963. He was a law clerk, Hon. John Minor Wisdom, U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit from 1957 to 1959. He was in private practice in New Orleans, Louisiana from 1959 to 1983.

Feldman is a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Feldman was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on September 9, 1983, to a seat vacated by Jack M. Gordon. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 4, 1983, and received his commission on October 5, 1983. Biographical Directory of Federal Judges
Feldman, Martin Leach-Cross