There is "no justification for taking these actions," W. Jackson Coleman, who served as a senior attorney at the Department of Interior from 1989 to 2003, told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Coleman made similar remarks on the sidelines of an RBC Capital Markets energy conference held in New York on Monday, Platts reported previously.

The Notice to Lessees directing the suspension of operations cited the need for additional safety or environmental protection equipment necessary to prevent injury or loss of life and damage to property, Coleman said. The NTL also states that the causes of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig are still under investigation.

"So, if that is the case, what additional safety or environmental protection equipment is necessary?" Coleman asked. "Where is the list of such necessary equipment? Why is it necessary to require drilling to stop for six months to wait on a report from a non-technical commission that is not expert in safety and environmental equipment?"

He also said it is "highly questionable," that a blanket six-month moratorium is necessary because, as the NTL put it, "under current conditions deepwater drilling poses an unacceptable threat of serious harm or damage."

"What current conditions are referenced here that causes deepwater drilling to pose an unacceptable threat?" he asked. "What is an unacceptable threat? Is the fact that many thousands of deepwater wells have been drilled before having a sea-floor blowout an unacceptable threat?

"I do not believe that a court of competent jurisdiction would agree with the administration's judgment on those questions," Coleman said.

--Gerald Karey, gerry_karey@platts.com