THERE IS COMMON SENSE, AND IT SOMETIMES PREVAILS – AT 9:16 A.M. ET:  Reader Joseph J. Gallick alerts us to a court decision that restores some sanity to the offshore drilling situation:

NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected the federal government’s effort to restore an offshore deep-water drilling moratorium, opening the door to resumed drilling in the Gulf of Mexico while the legal fight continues.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled soon after an afternoon hearing in a lawsuit filed by companies that oppose the drilling ban. The moratorium was struck down June 22 by U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman.

The Interior Department argued the moratorium was necessary while it studied deep-water drilling risks in the wake of the BP oil spill. Government lawyers asked the appeals court to let the temporary drilling ban stand until the 5th Circuit ruled on their appeal of the lower-court ruling.

A spokeswoman for the Interior Department did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

COMMENT:  This is not the judiciary's final say, but it's progress.  The moratorium is a joke, designed to advance the radical agenda of the Obama administration, rather than to protect anything. 

No one delights in the BP oil spill, and no one is defending what apparently was BP's recklessness and cavalier attitude toward safety.  But if there's an air crash and an airline was shown to be negligent, we don't ban flying.  We fix the problem. 

We need oil and will need oil for many decades to come.  Maybe some environmental smartasses think that seven-dollar-a-gallon gasoline is good for our souls, but Americans politely disagree.  Let drilling, under strong safeguards, continue.  Let's be rational about this.

July 9, 2010