Times-Picayune:

Three judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments Thursday on the federal government’s request to keep the deepwater drilling moratorium in place while it appeals a lower court decision overturning the ban.
On June 22, U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman overturned the Department of Interior’s six-month moratorium on oil exploration in more than 500 feet of water, finding that the government’s response to the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion was arbitrary and capricious. A few days later, the Interior Department asked Feldman to keep the ban in place while it refined the ban and appealed his decision, citing the risk of public harm. Feldman denied the stay request, meaning that no ban on drilling is currently in place, and the government is appealing that decision.
Curiously, the government hasn’t requested that the appeal of Feldman’s June 22 moratorium decision be heard on an expedited basis. The government’s appeal brief is due Aug. 9; Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc., the marine services company that is the lead plaintiff in the case, will have a few weeks to reply, and the oral arguments have yet to be scheduled.