Federal Judge Spanks Obama Administration Over Drilling

[stupefied]

The Chicago Way

Oops, they did it again. President Obama's grabby-handed environmental bureaucrats have earned yet another spanking from the federal judiciary over their "determined disregard" of the rule of law. Isn't it time to give these misbehaving government hooligans a permanent timeout?

Federal judge Martin Feldman in Louisiana excoriated the Obama Interior Department Wednesday for defying his May 2010 order to lift its groundless ban on offshore oil and gas drilling in the Gulf. Nine months later, not a single permit has been issued. Several deepwater platforms have moved out of the area to take their businesses -- and an estimated 5,000 jobs -- overseas. Billions of dollars in potential oil revenue and Gulf lease sales-related rent have also dried up.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar -- a.k.a. The Loathsome Cowboy -- thumbed his nose at the judge's preliminary injunction last June and dragged his feet into July, when his bureaucracy lost its bid for a stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals. Salazar then concocted a second "revised" moratorium to replace the one Feldman had nullified as "arbitrary and capricious, and therefore, unlawful." The second deepwater drilling ban (which oil spill czar Michael Bromwich admitted was "roughly congruent with the original moratorium") was "lifted" in October, but still no permits were issued.

This is because Team Obama's eco-radicals never intend to approve them.

Every step of the way, the White House team has displayed unbridled defiance -- by continually broadcasting its intent and determination to impose the blanket moratorium in spite of the judicial order, and by ramming through a second sweeping ban that did nothing to address the court's concerns after the injunction was issued.

The Interior Department's contempt for the law is outweighed only by its contempt for sound science...

http://www.redcounty.com/content/fed...-over-drilling

[Westender 3]

On June 23, 2010, Judge Feldman issued a ruling against the temporary six-month moratorium new deepwater drilling in the wake of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. Judge Feldman has a long history of investing in oil and gas exploration, including companies involved in deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere. Based on his publicly available financial disclosure reports filed in 2009[3] and the preceding six years, he has earned tens of thousands of dollars in dividends from his stock speculation in this field.

His failure to recuse himself based on a financial conflict of interest or the appearance of one based on his investment history has led to substantial criticism, including calls for his impeachment.[4]

His energy investments detailed in the financial disclosure form he signed are detailed below. It has also been reported that this is not the first time the judge has refused to recuse himself from cases involving the oil industry that he has invested extensively in,[5] but other judges in his district have recused themselves due to such conflicts.


http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php...Martin_Feldman