WASHINGTON (AP) - 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 New Orleans judge on Tuesday blocked the six-month ban imposed
in the wake of the Gulf oil spill, saying the Interior Department
had failed to provide adequate reasons for it.
Gibbs defended the moratorium, promising an immediate appeal to
the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Gibbs said President Barack Obama believes that until
investigations can determine why the spill happened, continued
deepwater drilling potentially exposes workers and the environment
to "a danger that the president does not believe we can afford."

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