Drilling moratorium lawsuit challenged

The Obama Administration is asking a federal judge to throw out part of a lawsuit challenging its moratorium on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico now that the ban has been lifted.

A court filing yesterday requesting the dismissal of claims filed by Ensco Offshore comes a day after the Interior Department lifted its temporary moratorium. The Justice Department says some of the company's claims are moot.

United States District Judge Martin Feldman had overturned the department's initial six-month drilling ban. The department issued a new moratorium on July 12, less than three weeks after Feldman ruled the Government didn't justify the limits on existing and proposed deepwater projects.