The judge in his opinion cited a lack of information from the department on the reasoning behind the moratorium, claiming that the department assumed an imminent danger from all drilling rigs despite the fact that only one rig the Deepwater Horizon had failed.

FORBES: An Injunction Against the Deepwater Drilling Moratorium

The London-based company has lost more than a third of its stock-market value since April 20, when one of its gulf wells blew out, destroying the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 men and triggering the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

WSJ: BP Shakes Up Management

One danger is that, as the oil slowly oozes out, it might leak into the ground water before a drilling rig can pump it out.

NPR: Industry Seeks to Extract Oil from Rocky Mountain Shale