Judge: Drilling moratorium 'punitive'

NEW ORLEANS, June 25 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Louisiana said a moratorium on deep-water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico was punitive and caused "irreparable" harm to businesses.

U.S. District Court Judge Martin L.C. Feldman made the comments Thursday in New Orleans.

Feldman denied an Obama administration request to delay putting into effect his decision striking down the six-month moratorium on drilling.

The judge rejected an Interior Department request for a stay of the decision, which lifted a ban on new drilling projects and on work on the 33 rigs already drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Feldman said the moratorium was causing "irreparable" harm to gulf businesses dependent on drilling. He said the the White House failed to provide enough basis for the moratorium, which he called "blanket, generic, indeed punitive."

The New York Times reported the U.S. government is to appeal the decision.

The administration of President Barack Obama imposed the moratorium in May, about a month after a deadly April 20 explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon rig unleashed the oil still gushing from the BP well a mile beneath the water's surface.

Feldman gave the Interior Department 30 days to comply with his decision.

At the same time, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar plans to reintroduce another version of a moratorium within several days.

Some environmental groups say Feldman may have a conflict of interest because as recently as 2008 he had owned stock in energy-related firms, including Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, the Times d.