The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday asked a federal appeals court to stay a district judge's ruling that blocked a six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling.

A supply vessel passes through oil floating near the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana on May 31.?[chinanews.com]

In court papers filed Friday, the Department told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans, that the suspensions in deepwater drilling are crucially important to protect human health and the environment from another disaster.

"The public's interest weighs heavily in favor of making sure that another comparable tragedy does not occur,'' the Department told the appeals court.

The moratorium was imposed after the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 workers and blew out the well that has spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf.

U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans, Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday against the moratorium, which halted all drilling in more than 500 feet of water and prevented new permits from being issued.