By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-908972.mp3
Dallas, TX – Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says the White House intends to immediately appeal a federal judge's ruling against a moratorium on new deepwater drilling. A group of Texas Republicans in Congress have called for lifting the six- month ban saying it will result in thousands of Texas jobs being lost.
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Dallas Democrat, says she too is concerned about jobs, but thinks the moratorium should remain until it's certain other drilling activities are being conducted safely.
Johnson: I think what we need to develop are the requirements and safeguards that should be in place before it should be permitted. The more we hear about what happened with the whistleblowers and what have you they were not careful. We need to be certain that is not done on a routine basis.
A New Orleans judge today blocked the six-month drilling ban imposed in the wake of the Gulf oil spill, saying the Interior Department had failed to provide adequate reasons for it.