Royal Dutch Shell Group .com Rotating Header Image

June 23rd, 2010:

U.S. judge rules against White House on drilling ban

REUTERS

* A victory for drillers, White House to challenge ruling

* Interior Dept to issue new order for moratorium

* Offshore operators say they await appeal outcome

By Mary Rickard

NEW ORLEANS, June 22 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge ruled on Tuesday against the six-month moratorium that President Barack Obama’s administration imposed on deepwater drilling over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, prompting officials to vow to appeal and retool the ban.

The order, in a New Orleans federal court, was a blow to the White House which had insisted a ban on offshore drilling below 500 feet (152 meters) would allow enough time to ensure other exploratory drilling was proceeding safely. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

US Gulf oil drilling ban overturned by federal judge

Rig drilling relief well in the Gulf of Mexico A ban on drilling was imposed following the BP oil rig explosion

BBC NEWS

A US federal court judge has blocked President Barack Obama’s six-month moratorium on deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

The moratorium was put in place in the wake of the massive oil spill triggered by an explosion at a rig in April.

The judge said the lengthy ban was “invalid” and could not be justified, as the negative impact on local businesses was simply too great.

The White House said it would be appealing against the decision.

“An invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in the depths over 500ft simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country,” judge Martin Feldman said. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Pennsylvania votes to divest firms tied to Iran

Inquirer

PhillyDeals: Pa. House votes to divest firms tied to Iran

By Joseph N. DiStefano

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted unanimously Tuesday to make the state Treasury and pension funds dump stock worth more than $400 million in Royal Dutch Shell and dozens of other foreign companies.”If they want to do business with Pennsylvania’s pension funds, they’ll have to cut their ties to Iran,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who represents Abington and Upper Dublin, told me.

State pension funds would be barred from buying into companies that make significant investments in Iran and Sudan under the law, which Gov. Rendell is likely to sign once state lawyers review it, his spokesman, Gary Tuma, told me.

Pennsylvania’s pension funds resisted past

attempts to divest companies in Northern Ireland and South Africa amid concerns that politicizing the underfunded pension plans would hurt investment returns.

Indeed, Shapiro’s proposal “was met with very stiff oppositions from the pension funds and from their sympathizers” when he pressed it in his first term five years ago, Shapiro told me. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.