"The federal judge who overturned Barack Obama's offshore drilling moratorium appears to own stock in numerous companies involved in the offshore oil industry—including Transocean, which leased the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig to BP prior to its April 20 explosion in the Gulf of Mexico—according to 2008 financial disclosure reports," Yahoo News reports.
According to Feldman's 2008 financial disclosure form, posted online by Judicial Watch [pdf], the judge owned stock in Transocean, as well as five other companies that are either directly or indirectly involved in the offshore drilling business.
It's not surprising that Feldman, who is a judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, has invested in the offshore drilling business—an AP investigation found earlier this month that more than half the federal judges in the districts affected by the BP spill have financial ties to the oil and gas industry.
The report discloses that in 2008, Judge Feldman held less than $15,000 worth of stock in Transocean, as well as similar amounts—federal rules only require that judges report a range of values—in Hercules Offshore, ATP Oil and Gas, and Parker Drilling. All of those companies offer contract offshore drilling services and operate offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Judge Feldman also owned between $15,000 and $50,000 in notes offered by Ocean Energy, Inc., a company that offers "concept design and manufacturing design of submersible drilling rigs," according to its web site. None of the companies were direct parties to the lawsuit seeking to overturn the ban.
Original story follows:
US judge blocks Gulf deepwater drilling freeze
A US judge Tuesday ruled against a six-month freeze imposed on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, in a blow to the White House which immediately said it would appeal.
District judge Martin Feldman ruled in favor of 32 oil firms which challenged the moratorium on deepwater drilling and exploration imposed by President Barack Obama in the wake of the massive Gulf oil spill.
Feldman ruled the oil firms' motion for a "preliminary injunction is granted," saying he was persuaded it was in the public interest to lift the freeze by the Minerals Management Service and the Interior Department.
"The court has found the plaintiffs would likely succeed in showing that the agency's decision was arbitrary and capricious," Feldman said in his written ruling after Monday's hearing in a New Orleans court.
Describing the drilling decision as "invalid," Feldman said the moratorium would effect employment and energy supplies and "will clearly ripple throughout the economy in this region."
The agency decision "simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country."
But White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "We will immediately appeal to the fifth circuit."
"The president strongly believes, as the Department of Interior, Department of Justice argued yesterday, that continuing to drill at these depths without knowing what happened is -- does not make any sense."
The drilling "potentially puts the safety of those on the rigs and environment of the Gulf at a danger that the president does not believe we can afford right now."
With oil still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, Obama has slapped a freeze on new deepwater drilling until late November and curtailed parts of the offshore oil industry.
But oil workers and executives along the southern US coast criticized the moves, which they say are driving business out of the Gulf and costing them their livelihoods.
Carl Rosenblum, an attorney for some of the offshore oil companies, said in Monday's hearing it was unprecedented that an entire industry should be punished.
"Nothing we are asking for is contrary to safety," he said, arguing the moratorium will have a domino effect with some companies already eyeing moves to Brazil and Africa rather than sit idle.
"There's an ecosystem of businesses that are being harmed every day by this moratorium," he insisted, in reference to the damage being caused by the millions of gallons of oil washing up along fragile southern US shores.
Government lawyer Guillermo Montero replied that deepwater drilling was more complicated than many other industries and the government had to review and, if necessary, update its safety protocols.
"The Deepwater Horizon incident was a game-changer. It really showed the risks inherent in deepwater drilling," he said.
Hornbeck Offshore Services, which first filed the case, says the Obama administration's directive to halt drilling at 33 existing oil wells in the Gulf was "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion" and inconsistent with regulations governing the industry.
It also says the restrictions were imposed without any proof that wells drilling beyond 500 feet (152 meters) presented any threat of a systemic failure such as the one that caused the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig to explode on April 20, triggering the disastrous leak.
(with additional reporting by RAW STORY)
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0622/judge-holding-drilling-firm-stocks-overturns-drilling-moratorium/
Sent from James' iPhone
No comments:
Post a Comment