HOUSTON — The Texas attorney general sued the Obama administration Wednesday over its new deep-water offshore drilling moratorium, claiming it is unjustified and that federal officials did not contact the state before issuing the ban.
Attorney General Greg Abbott filed the 18-page suit in federal court in Houston against Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. The ban halted the approval of any new permits for deep-water projects and shut down drilling at 33 exploratory ocean wells in the wake of the massive BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
In his lawsuit, Abbott called the ban “an unjustified, arbitrary and capricious policy that will inflict harm upon coastal communities.” Also, the suit said, federal officials did not coordinate with the state or consider the economic impacts before issuing the moratorium.
Texas is one of the nation’s most active oil refinery states. State figures show there were 86,900 jobs in oil and natural-gas extraction in April and an additional 107,800 in support industries.
Interior Department spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff defended the ban but declined to comment specifically on the Texas lawsuit.
Meanwhile, the Interior Department is hosting eight forums — including a Houston session in September — to gather information from experts and federal, state and local leaders about drilling safety reform, well containment and oil spill response. With that information, officials will consider whether to continue, end, reduce or expand the moratorium.
Also Wednesday, the White House said the $20 billion victims’ compensation fund established for the gulf oil spill may use revenue from BP’s oil and gas drilling as collateral.
The government watchdog group Public Citizen criticized the arrangement as a conflict of interest, arguing that it gives the government a financial incentive to encourage BP to keep drilling offshore.
BP has already made a $3 billion initial deposit.
