A New Orleans U.S. District judge has blocked the Obama Administration’s ban on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after arguments were heard from a group of oil companies earlier this week. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman said in his ruling that the administration had failed to justify the wide breadth of the moratorium and that the ban would cause “irreparable harm to businesses” along the Gulf. Gulf Coast state representatives have praised the judge’s decision and urged the federal government to replace the ban with more narrowly drafted requirements that would “address only truly essential safety issues.”