Obama Loses in Court Again over Deepwater Drilling Moratorium

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A deepwater drilling moratorium, issued in May and struck down as too broad June 22, was not reinstated Thursday by a federal appeals panel, but drilling is unlikely to resume any time soon.

A federal appeals panel in New Orleans on Thursday denied the federal government's bid to reinstate a six-month moratorium on offshore deepwater oil drilling issued by the Department of Interior, as part of the Obama administration's response to the ongoing BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The ruling, though it buttresses the position of companies fighting the moratorium, is not likely to mean a return to drilling in the deepwater Gulf any time soon. The Obama …