President Barack Obama ordered the moratorium after the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, an oil rig off Louisiana. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans, Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday against the ban, which halted all drilling in more than 500 feet of water and prevented new permits from being issued. "The safeguards and regulations in place on April 20 did not create a sufficient margin of safety," said Justice Department attorney Guillermo Montero. Meanwhile, Kenneth Feinberg, who has been tapped by the White House to run the fund set up to help people harmed by the spill, said many people are in desperate financial straits and need immediate relief. BP said it has spent $2 billion fighting the spill for the last two months and compensating victims, with no end in sight. BP said in a statement Monday that costs from the disaster now total about $2 billion, including the cost of the response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs. To date, more than 65,000 claims have been submitted and more than 32,000 payments totaling more than $105 million have been made, the company said. BP chief executive Tony Hayward canceled a scheduled Tuesday appearance at the London oil conference, citing his commitment to the Gulf relief effort. Government estimates indicate as much as 60,000 barrels (2.5 million gallons) of oil may be flowing into the Gulf every day, and the gusher has already taken a serious toll on tourism and the fishing industry in Gulf Coast states. But a group of companies that provides boats and equipment to the offshore drilling industry filed a lawsuit claiming the government has no evidence that existing operations pose a threat to the Gulf of Mexico and asked the court to declare the moratorium invalid and unenforceable. Transocean President Steve Newman, whose company owned the Deepwater Horizon, said Tuesday that he supported ending the moratorium, and the office of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's office filed a brief supporting the plaintiffs' suit.  New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday called a six-month halt on deepwater drilling "needed, appropriate and within our authorities" in announcing he will issue a new order on a moratorium just hours after a federal judge blocked such a mandate.
– The owner of the busted rig spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico is itching to get back to work. Transocean chief Steven Newman slammed the Obama administration's 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling at an oil conference today, the AP reports. There are things the administration "could implement today that would allow the industry to go back to work tomorrow without an arbitrary 6-month time limit," Newman said. The government says the ban is needed to give regulators time to study ways of making deepwater drilling safer. A group of companies that supply the offshore drilling industry have filed a lawsuit challenging the ban and a New Orleans judge has promised a decision by tomorrow, CNN reports. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's office has filed a brief supporting the lawsuit. "This is an environmental disaster. Let's not make an economic disaster," an attorney for the state said.