NEW ORLEANS — The federal judge who struck down the Obama administration’s moratorium on deep-water drilling after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill held the Interior Department in contempt Wednesday and ordered the federal agency to pay attorneys’ fees for several offshore oil companies.
U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman chided the department for its “dismissive conduct” after he overturned the agency’s decision to halt any new permits for deep-water projects and suspend drilling on 33 exploratory wells after the Deepwater Horizon blast, which killed 11 workers and triggered the massive spill.
After Feldman overturned the government’s moratorium in June, the agency issued a second nearly identical suspension.
“Such dismissive conduct, viewed in tandem with the reimposition of a second blanket and substantively identical moratorium and in light of the national importance of this case, provide this court with clear and convincing evidence of the government’s contempt of this court’s preliminary injunction order,” he wrote.
A magistrate will consider how much the companies’ attorneys should get.
An Interior Department spokeswoman wouldn’t comment.
Also Wednesday, the administrator of the $20 billion compensation fund for gulf oil-spill victims is not independent from BP and must stop telling potential claimants that he is, a federal judge said in a ruling that may spur more people to sue rather than settle.
U.S. District Judge Carl Bar bier said claims czar Ken Feinberg and any of his agents must clearly disclose in all communications that he is acting for and on behalf of BP in fulfilling its obligations as the responsible party under the Oil Pollution Act.
