Federal Judge blocks deep water drilling moratorium

next step? next step for what?

the moratorium was pretty silly to begin with.

 

so they just won't issue any permits?

 

I'm with the oil companies on this one - the moratorium reeks of grandstanding with little or no tangible benefit.

 

to me a judge shouldn't be making decisions based on these reasons, but i'm no lawyer, just play one on the BBS

 

hum....

Judge who overturned drilling moratorium has held stock in drilling companies

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.

U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman issued a preliminary injunction today barring the enforcement of Barack Obama's proposed six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling, arguing that the ban is too broad.

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.

Judge Feldman did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

 

I actually agree with the judge but...that doesn't help his credibility.

 

you'd be hard presses to find any moderately successful professional in LA who doesnt have some stake in oil companies.

I have a hard time believing a judge, making this kind of national decision, would risk his entire livelyhood on a few thousand dollars.

 

I agree with you. But it's not like it's like he was just invested in BP or Exxon or something. I mean some of those are pretty specific to offshore drilling.

 

I have a hard time a moderately sensible judge with innocent ownership of some oil stocks that just happened to overlap the case at hand wouldn't recuse himself the moment he was given it.

 

no sh_t.

 

I disagree with the posters who say they don't think a moratorium was warranted. Until we get to the bottom of what happened on HDW and how it happened, it would be irresponsible to allow that drilling to continue. Once we have a handle on the whats and hows, we can move forward in a responsible way, creating regulations and procedures that will minimize the risks in the future.

 

good, glad it was done.

 

I'm not sure I agree he should recuse himself. We might end up having a hard time finding a judge who doesn't have an investment interest in offshore drilling. His investments might have influenced his decision, but perhaps not. I'll leave the question of propriety to his bosses, since I won't dig deep enough to find out.

And, it'd be nice if they had a more recent disclosure of his investments than 2008.

As for the decision, I've gotta go with the moratorium-was-dumb crowd. We've done a lot of drilling with only one massive explosion and ecological catastrophe. I don't think it is likely a bunch more are about to go off. I don't think the risk mitigation is worth the cost.

 

I don't think the cost is as much an issue right now. We have a glut of oil on the market anyway. I understand some people could lose their jobs, but if it were held to six months even that is minimal.

now that being said, what could you learn and change in six months is the bigger question imo.

 

Only one mishap...

 

and really that's not even true in the grand scheme.

This happened recently in Australia, in less than 250 feet and they had the same amount of trouble seems like.

I'm pro drilling, pro offshore drilling, pro oil industry, but you can't ignore the scope of this. just imagine one more.

that being said, these aren't legal issues seems like

 

That's exactly the kind of thinking that leads to unfillable holes beneath miles of ocean and rock.

How can you profess to perform a cost/benefit analysis here btw? I mean we can't even get a handle on the cost but suffice it to say it's already astronomical and climbing. And that's just the beginning part of a very very complicated equation.