Gulf oil drilling timeline June 22 to Feb. 3, 2011, partial list of notable events

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Obama was "immediately prohibited" from banning oil drilling in the US Gulf on June 22. Following is a partial time line of events since then. Ensco's latest suit was filed on November 30, one day before Obama's latest ban.

6/22/10, US Court "immediately prohibits" Obama from continuing his Gulf drilling ban, "Deepwater drilling ban lifted by New Orleans federal judge," Bloomberg, Calkins, Fisk

7/12/10, "US issues new offshore oil drilling ban," Reuters

8/21/10, "Gulf Oil drill ban effects 23,000 jobs," AP, CBS News, US Dept. of Interior document

9/1/10, US Court denies Obama request for delay, that it presented no new information to back its position, "Judge deals new blow to drilling moratorium," WSJ.com, S. Power

9/16/10, "US loses bid to shield papers in drill ban case," Bloomberg, Calkins and Fisk

10/13/10, Obama reportedly lifted the ban. "Gulf drilling ban is lifted," WSJ.com

11/3/10, Judge Feldman dismissed the pending challenge to Obama's 2nd ban based solely on the fact that Obama announced he was lifting the ban. "Judge dismisses challenge to deep-water drilling ban," Bloomberg, Houston Chronicle, Fisk and Johnson, Jr.

11/9/10, A Gulf resident worked all his life to achieve the American dream. Obama is not interested in the American dream for Americans, instead using all his power to pass the "Dream" Act for illegal aliens.

11/10/10, "Report: White House altered drilling safety report," AP, Gainesville.com
"The Interior Department's inspector general says the White House edited a drilling safety report in a way that made it falsely appear that scientists and experts supported the administration's six-month ban on new drilling."...

12/1/10, "Obama bans eastern Gulf drilling for 7 years," CNN.com

12/1/10, Obama's ban will cost thousands of American jobs, increased dependence on foreign oil, and likely billions in revenues to the US government, Jack Gerard, API

12/1/10, "Ensco rig sent to South America as Gulf permits sought," Reuters, Fidelity.com.

12/2/10, "Ensco seeks to revive claim over federal drilling ban," (filed November 30) Bloomberg, Fuel Fix, Calkins and Fisk

12/3/10, At least 5 rigs have left the US Gulf since Obama's May 27 decision, "Marathon wriggles out of Noble rig lease amid deep-water delays," FuelFix.com, J. Dlouhy

• (One day after Ensco's Nov. 30 suit, Obama placed a new ban in effect for 7 years).

12/2/10, "Ensco seeks to revive claim over federal drilling ban," (filed November 30, 1 day before Obama's 7-year ban) Bloomberg, Fuel Fix, Calkins and Fisk

"Ensco Offshore Co. asked a judge to revive its challenge to the Obama administration’s deep-water oil drilling rules, claiming regulators are preventing rigs from returning to work even after lifting a ban in October.

“None of the work that was being done by the 33 rigs suspended when the initial moratorium was issued has been allowed to resume, no permits for previously suspended activities have been issued, and there are no indications that defendants will unfreeze the permit process in the near future,”

• Ensco said in a Nov. 30 court filing.

Ensco asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman of New Orleans to reinstate dismissed claims and enjoin the government from enforcing the drilling moratorium “by any means.” Ensco also

• asked the judge to require regulators to act within 30 days on all pending applications for permits to drill in waters deeper than 500 feet.

The Obama administration initially banned deep-water drilling in May, after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded while drilling for BP Plc off the Louisiana coast. Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar said regulators needed time to study improvements to drilling safety and spill containment after the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Ensco lawyer George Fowler didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Kendra Barkoff, Salazar’s spokeswoman, declined to comment.

• Politicians, business groups and industry interests, led by Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC, sued to overturn the ban, which they claimed was improperly imposed and punitive to the Gulf Coast economy.

Feldman scrapped the moratorium in late June.

Salazar imposed a second ban in mid-July with almost identical drilling-suspension rules. Ensco Offshore, a subsidiary of London-based Ensco Plc, sued Salazar, claiming the second ban was an illegal continuation of the first.

• Before Feldman could rule on Ensco’s challenge, Salazar ended the ban on Oct. 12.

The government told Feldman that companies could get new permits and return to work immediately, without waiting for regulators to formalize all new drilling safety and spill-containment rules.

• Feldman last month dismissed the bulk of Ensco’s suit as legally irrelevant, [because Obama had lifted the ban] including requests to find the second ban was an illegal continuation of the first and to lift the second ban.

He kept alive the company’s claim that the U.S. is using its new rules to block the industry from resuming drilling.

• He set a trial date for July 2011.

This week, James Noe, Hercules Offshore Inc.’s general counsel and chief compliance officer, filed sworn statements that Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Michael Bromwich told a private industry gathering on Oct. 21 that

• they wanted to “codify specific requirements and commitments” into
• a “legally enforceable mechanism” for deep- water spill containment
  

before granting permits. “Defendants represented to this court that such a mechanism ‘is not a precondition to the resumption of drilling,’” Ensco said in its filing. “The court took defendants at their word.”

• Before the drilling ban, regulators typically processed permit applications in about two weeks, according to court papers.

• Regulators have ignored applications since the ban was lifted, Ensco says."

An article from 7/20/10 explains why one doesn't hear much about lawsuits v Obama, that it's mostly smaller companies who would begin to fight this, and

• they couldn't persevere long enough against the government. (The author, Shelley DuBois, formerly worked at NPR, so may be favorably disposed to totalitarian tyrannies).

(4/28/10, Fortune.com: "Shelley DuBois joins us a writer-reporter. Shelley comes to Fortune.com from National Public Radio, where she was a producer for the weekly show “Science Friday.”")

7/20/10, "You can't fight the drilling ban-Oil service companies fight losing battle over drilling ban," Fortune.com, by Shelley DuBois

1/3/2011, "Drilling Is Stalled Even After Ban Is Lifted," Wall St. Journal, Casselman and Gilbert

1/21/11, ""Testing of key oil spill evidence delayed again," AP, H.R. Weber

2/3/11, "U.S. in Contempt Over Gulf Drill Ban, Judge Rules," Bloomberg

2/18/11, "Court Orders U.S. to Decide on Drilling," Wall St. Journal, Power and Gold

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November and December stories via Vladimir at RedState.com