Lawsuit Over Drilling Ban Returns to Court in La.

An offshore drilling services company asked a federal judge Wednesday to rule that government regulators have unreasonably delayed action on deepwater drilling permit applications even after lifting a drilling moratorium imposed in the wake of the massive Gulf oil spill.

Ensco Offshore Company asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman to issue a preliminary injunction that would require the Interior Department to “expeditiously” process five pending permit applications in which the company has a contractual stake.

Ensco attorney Adam Feinberg suggested Feldman could rule that the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management must process these applications within 30 days.

The judge said he hoped to rule on that request later this month.

The government lifted its temporary ban on deepwater drilling in October. Since then, offshore operators have submitted 13 permit applications for drilling activities that were barred under the moratorium, but none have been approved, Feinberg said.

“We believe there’s been a pattern of bad faith,” Feinberg said. Read more at abcnews.go.com