A federal judge blocked a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling, but the Obama administration has decided to appeal the judge’s decision, reports Voice of America News.

Business Insider reports that the government is preparing a report on the midwater oil plumes. If the oil plumes continue to spread, they could cause a massive increase to the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone, causing bacteria populations to explode and deplete the ecosystem of oxygen.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed an order renaming the Minerals Management Services (MMS) as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or the Bureau of Ocean Energy, reports Reuters. The new agency is being broken up into three separate divisions overseeing royalty collection, energy leasing and safety enforcement.

The massive Gulf oil disaster made its presence felt along Alabama’s coastline again on Tuesday, reports the Press-Register. In the neighboring state of Florida, the Associated Press reports, tar balls have washed up on the shore of Pensacola beaches.

Get Updates and Alerts