Sue, baby, sue:

U.S. Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar was sued by the state of Alaska over claims he improperly banned drilling off the state’s coast after BP Plc’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The U.S. hasn’t issued drilling permits in the Arctic since the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf in April and Salazar announced at a press conference this month that he wouldn’t allow exploration plans to resume this year, according to the complaint filed yesterday by Alaska and its Republican governor, Sean Parnell.
The U.S. in May imposed a moratorium on deep-water drilling in the wake of the Gulf spill. Regulators including Salazar have improperly stopped drilling as well in the shallower waters off Alaska’s coast without issuing a formal ban, the state said.
“Defendants have not issued a final, appealable decision on a moratorium for the Alaska region,” the state said in the complaint filed in federal court in Anchorage. “Nor have defendants issued any findings, analysis, or explanation to support such a moratorium.”
The lawsuit claims that Salazar and the Interior Department didn’t consult the state or give it a chance to participate in the moratorium decision, as legally required. The state asked the fcourt to order the U.S. to end any moratorium on drilling in the Alaska region.
The state also sued the Interior Department, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement and its director, Michael Bromwich.

The rest here.