Hornbeck Offshore Services, L.L.C., et al. v. Salazar, 696 F.Supp.2d 627 (E.D. La. 2010)

(plaintiff's motion for preliminary injunction against enforcement of defendant's May 27, 2010, decision to suspend oil drilling in Gulf of Mexico in depths of over 500 feet granted; defendant (Secretary of Interior) directed by President to conduct review of rig blowout and report within 30 days what action, if any, should be taken; defendant's report resulted in May 27 decision; court determined that defendant side-stepped required comment period and failed to note that all active deepwater drilling rigs passed an immediate re-inspection after single rig exploded (first time a deepwater rig had (out of several thousand) ever exploded); court noted presence of "political or social agendas" in Gulf oil drilling and, as a result, defendant falsified Executive Summary of report by inserting statement that certain experts supported the drilling ban after experts had signed the document when, in fact, experts did not support drilling ban even though they did support safety recommendations;  court stated that defendant's drilling ban "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"; defendant's decision not based on rationale threat/safety analysis and was arbitrary and capricious - "the Court is unable to divine or fathom a relationship between the findings and the immense scope of the moratorium...the report patently lacks any analysis of the asserted fear of threat of irreparable injury or safety hazards posed by the thirty-three permitted rigs also reached by the moratorium" - no irreparable harm specified, no implementation timetable specified for proposed safety measures and, as such, violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act).