This year, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel barred the Interior Department from moving forward with its offshore drilling plans during the federal government shutdown. According to his injunction, the department is prohibited “from taking action to promulgate permits ... or take any other official action regarding the pending permit applications for oil and gas surveys in the Atlantic.”
Hopefully, the ban will be lifted now that the shutdown is over. Right now, nearly 94 percent of offshore territories are off-limits to energy explorers.