December 11, 2010 (Alan Bailey - Petroleum News) Court testimony presents contradictory views of whether or not the Department of the Interior imposed and Arctic OCS drilling moratorium after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.  The war of words over whether or not the U.S. Department of the Interior imposed a drilling moratorium on the Arctic outer continental shelf earlier this year is continuing in the United States Court for the District of Alaska, where the State of Alaska has sued Interior on the grounds that Interior has imposed a de facto Arctic moratorium without going through the required public process, as prescribed under the U.S. Administrative Procedures Act.

In a Nov. 30 court filing, the U.S. Department of Justice has claimed that Interior has never imposed an Arctic moratorium and that the state, therefore, is challenging an agency action that does not exist.  

Read the full article here.