Shocker: Judge Who Blocked Drilling Moratorium Has Massive Holdings in Energy Companies

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



Posted by Tana Ganeva at 1:09 pm
June 22, 2010

Shocker: Judge Who Blocked Drilling Moratorium Has Massive Holdings in Energy Companies

Great news: a Louisiana judge has ruled that the government can’t destroy capitalism by temporarily halting offshore drilling while we scramble to figure out why our gulf has been destroyed by offshore drilling (from the New York Times): (from the New York Times):

In a 22-page ruling, Judge Martin L. C. Feldman of Federal District Court issued a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of a May 28 order halting all floating offshore drilling projects in more than 500 feet of water and preventing the government from issuing new permits for such projects.

The White House promised to appeal the decision…

Mr. Gibbs said the president “strongly believes that continuing to drill at those depths without knowing what’s happened” in the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11 workers and left a well gushing out of control, “makes no sense” and puts people’s lives at risk.

The Obama administration had argued that a six-month suspension of deepwater drilling was necessary so that the government could complete its investigation of the Deepwater Horizon accident, and make sure that other drilling operations on the outer continental shelf were safe.

But the order was challenged by a coalition of businesses that provide services and equipment to offshore drilling platforms. The companies sued, asking the judge to declare the moratorium to be invalid and arguing that there was no evidence that existing operations were unsafe.

Nope, none at all.

Oh, and here’s a list, compiled by Think Progress, of Judge Feldman’s holdings in various oil-related enterprises:

Like many judges presiding in the Gulf region, Feldman owns lots of energy stocks, including Transocean, Halliburton, and two of BP’s largest U.S. private shareholders — BlackRock (7.1%) and JP Morgan Chase (28.3%). Here’s a list of Feldman’s income in 2008 (amounts listed unless under $1,000):

BlackRock ($12000- $36000)
Ocean Energy ($1000 – $2500)
NGP Capital Resources ($1000 – $2500)
Quicksilver Resources ($5000 – $15000)
Hercules Offshore ($6000 – $17500)
Provident Energy
Peabody Energy
PenGrowth Energy
RPC Inc
Atlas Energy Resources
Parker Drilling
TXCO Resources
EV Energy Partners
Rowan Companies
BPZ Resources
El Paso Corp
KBR Inc
Chesapeake Energy
ATP Oil & Gas

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/06/22/shocker-judge-who-blocked-drilling-moratoriam-has-massive-holdings-in-energy-companies/

[Warren Stupidity]

1. How is this not an impeachable conflict of interest?

[Alameda]

2. Yes, I'm curious too....

[lonestarnot]

3. and a disciplinary issue for the bar?

[usregimechange]

4. What did you expect from a Reagan appointee?

[Art_from_Ark]

7. Reagan appointee=

political toadie with minimal qualifications

[usregimechange]

5. kick

[Historic NY]

6. Who is filing with the Judicial Ethics Committee?

Outside Influence. A judge should not allow family, social, political, financial, or other relationships to influence judicial conduct or judgment. A judge should neither lend the prestige of the judicial office to advance the private interests of the judge or others nor convey or permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the judge.

A judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to instances in which:

(iii) known by the judge to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding; or



http://www.uscourts.gov/RulesAndPolicies/CodesOfConduct.aspx

[Scuba]

8. Corrupt and arrogant or brain dead???

The plaintiffs argued "that there was no evidence that existing operations were unsafe."

Eleven men dead, capitalism (other than oil biz) destroyed, an entire ocean ruined.