U.S. May Reject Off-Shore Drilling Permits Due to Ruling

The Obama administration says it may have to reject seven permits for deep-water drilling that have become the subject of high-profile legal and political battles if a federal judge in New Orleans forces the government to make a quick decision on the applications.

In court filings late Friday, the Interior Department said the permit applications are flawed or incomplete, and that Judge Martin Feldman’s order that it decide on them before the end of the month disrupts the normal back-and-forth negotiations between oil companies and federal regulators.

The slowdown in Gulf of Mexico oil and gas drilling activity has become in recent weeks a political issue, with Republican politicians seizing on rising oil and gasoline prices to charge the Obama administration with needlessly delaying permits.

Federal offshore regulators have said they need to make sure the companies are prepared to drill safely and have adequate equipment to control an uncontrolled deep-water spill.