Federal Judge Overturns Offshore Drilling Ban

[Chris_]

http://chicagobreakingbusiness.com/2010/06/judge-overturns-offshore-drilling-ban.html

Judge overturns offshore drilling ban

by Reuters | Posted today at 12:50 p.m.

A U.S. judge Tuesday ruled against the Obama administration’s six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the wake of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a blow to the White House, which had hoped the ban would provide time to ensure other wells are operating safely.

A lawsuit was filed by Louisiana-based Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC was joined by more than a dozen companies involved in offshore drilling to reverse the drilling ban imposed by the U.S. Department of Interior.

A federal judge in Louisiana granted the drillers’ request for a preliminary restraining order that would prevent the ban from taking effect.

doc

[rich_t]

A New Orleans federal judge lifted the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling imposed by President Barack Obama following the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

link

Take that you narcissistic POS.

[bkg]

A New Orleans federal judge lifted the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling imposed by President Barack Obama following the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

link

Take that you narcissistic POS.

Awesome!

Wonder if Feds will appeal.

[rich_t]

Awesome!

Wonder if Feds will appeal.

I just heard on Fox that the WH will file an immediate appeal.

[rich_t]

Looks like somebody beat me to it.

Mods, please merge with http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,45601.0.html

[Chris_]

Looks like somebody beat me to it.

Mods, please merge with http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,45601.0.html

Done.....

doc

[Happy Fun Ball]

[youtube=425,350]rX7wtNOkuHo[/youtube].

[ConservativeMobster]

I just heard on Fox that the WH will file an immediate appeal.

Johnny on the spot for an appeal huh?  Musta finished his round of golf already.

[Godot showed up]

It's so good to see the Obama admin get SERVED.  , you evil bastard.

This goes to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, now. They have a pretty good reputation (or, if you're a moonbat, a pretty BAD reputation).

The truth is if you read their recent opinions it's a bit hard to divine a judicial bias, although in 90% of appealed criminal cases the USA wins.


If you feel like slogging through some opinions, here ya go:

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/Opinions.aspx?View=Last7

You can reset the dates to go further back.



Here's this from PravdaNYTimes:


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/us/25sfninth.html



The article is mostly about trying to pretend that the 9th Circuit isn't insane, but the 5th gets a mention:

"The Bush appointees, Mr. Martin said, had “caused the Ninth Circuit to drift back to the right a little bit.” Other circuits, especially the Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans, and the Sixth, based in Ohio, are on the right. “The differences correspond to the local politics of those areas,” he said, and he argued that the attacks on the Ninth Circuit were politically motivated."


Since Martin is a Professor, was sought as a quote source by the Times, and considers the 9th Circuit to have moderated at all, I'd say he's probably a FRAM (Fricking Raving Academic Moonbat), this tells us something good about the 5th Circuit.

Of course if the Dictator pretending to be a President loses there, naturally he'll go to the USSC.

[Godot showed up]

Judge Feldman is pretty distinguished:


http://www.aaas.org/spp/case/feldman.htm

Judge Feldman graduated from Tulane Law School in 1957, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif, and Assistant Editor of the Tulane Law Review.  Upon graduation in 1957, Judge Feldman became Judge John Minor Wisdom's first law clerk when Judge Wisdom was appointed United States Circuit Judge.  Judge Feldman served as Judge Wisdom's law clerk in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals from 1957 to 1959 and, thereafter, practiced law in New Orleans until October of 1983.  His practice emphasized tax law and complex commercial litigation.  He is a past chairman of the Law Reform Committee of the Louisiana State Bar Association, and a founding member of the Section on Anti‑Trust Law.  Judge Feldman is also a Life Member of the American Law Institute

On October 12, 1983 he was appointed United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana by President Reagan, and presently serves as the Chairman of the Fifth Circuit's Committee on Pattern Civil Jury Instructions.  Judge Feldman was a member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Judicial Center (1991-1995), and was Chair of the National Conference of Federal Trial Judges (1996-1997).  He is a visiting lecturer at Cambridge University, and an Honorary Master of the Bench of the Inner Temple Inn of Court, London. Judge Feldman is a member of the Advisory Committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is Chair of the Board of Advisory Editors of the Tulane Law Review, and was the Fifth Circuit district judge representative on the Judicial Conference of the United States for the 2001-2004 term.   From 1994 to 2000 he was a lecturer in Constitutional Law and war powers at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Public Administration.  During the Fall of 2002, he was Princeton University's Distinguished Visiting Jurist in the James Madison Program of American Ideals and Institutions.  He is a frequent James Madison lecturer at Princeton University and has been a guest lecturer at Amherst College in constitutional interpretation and the philosophy of the Rule of Law.

Oh the left must hate him. He knows his ass from his elbow in scientific matters, and he's a real expert in Constitutional law and war powers law.

[NHSparky]

Johnny on the spot for an appeal huh?  Musta finished his round of golf already.

Took him 50-plus days to actually DO anything about the spill, and half a second to cry like a little bitch when someone stepped on his dick.

[debk]

His ban on drilling put hundreds...thousands?...of people out of work for an indefinite period of time.

Yes, they will collect unemployment, but that's just a further drain on the economy. If the appeallate judges have any sense at all, the will deny the appeal.

It's impossible to really calculate the true costs of shutting down the off-drilling. Chances of another un-cappable spill happening are most likely zilch.....and if it does, somebody better be looking for a culprit, because one is a horrific accident, two is terrorism.

[Doc]

Took him 50-plus days to actually DO anything about the spill, and half a second to cry like a little bitch when someone stepped on his dick.

 

Actually Sparky, there is a pretty damn good argument for the case that he hasn"t actually DONE anything yet.....except for he and his minions making flowery speeches, and generally getting in the way of everyone that is actually trying to do something about the problem......

Oh....and I forgot.......extorting BP out of 20 billion, a portion of which will likely end up in some Dem's campaign coffers....

doc

[Randy]

"The Bush appointees, Mr. Martin said, had “caused the Ninth Circuit to drift back to the right a little bit.”

 

Mr Martin owes me a new laptop because I spit all in this one laughing to hard!

[PatriotGame]

Snarkle!

A good reason to smile today - not just because 0bama got his wee-wee slapped. Because it SUPPORTS those that need their jobs now more than ever.

I have a feeling we will be seeing more of this in the future. Recently Republicans in Congress have been stating if they get the majority in November they are going after 0bama with a truckload of investigations against his administration and policies.

[bkg]

How far out into the oceans do States have control? 10 ft? 10,000 ft? 10 miles?

I'm curious if/when this gets escalated to the same level of the AZ lawsuit should LA tell the feds to bound sand to save their economy.

[rich_t]

How far out into the oceans do States have control? 10 ft? 10,000 ft? 10 miles?

I'm curious if/when this gets escalated to the same level of the AZ lawsuit should LA tell the feds to bound sand to save their economy.

12 miles IIRC.

[Revolution]

I'm not 100% on this, but doesn't the ban stay in effect until the appeal is all situated?

because one is a horrific accident, two is terrorism.

Or a very underhanded plot if it were to happen. I'm still not sure about this one. "Skeptical," we'll call it.

[bkg]

12 miles IIRC.

Hmmmm... So I wonder if LA will have the... cahones to start pushing drilling w/in that boundary... could get interesting.

[DumbAss Tanker]

It's difficult to say how this will play on appeal.  However the fact that it is based on an 'Expert report' where 8 of the 15 experts did not see the report after the moratorium rec was added, and don't agree with it, has to be very damaging to the 'Rational basis test' and 'Deference to expert administrative decisionmaking' aspects of the review under the Administrative Procedures Act analysis. 

[rich_t]

This is good for a chuckle or three...

Judge Who Ruled Against Offshore Drilling Moratorium Invests in Oil Industry

Today, Judge Martin Feldman, a U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, sided with a drilling company which had argued that the Obama administration’s blanket, 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico was illegal. The drilling company, Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, LA, claimed financial distress from the imposition of the moratorium. In the ruling handed down this afternoon, Judge Feldman agreed, writing that the administration made an “arbitrary and capricious” decision that would have an “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.” 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
In his opinion today, Feldman wrote, “Oil and gas production is quite simply elemental to Gulf communities.” Indeed, it is so elemental that the justice system is invested in the oil and gas industry. As TP’s Ian Millhiser has written, “Industry ties among federal judges are so widespread that they are beginning to endanger the courts’ ability to conduct routine business. Last month, so many members of the right-wing Fifth Circuit were forced to recuse themselves from an appeal against various energy and chemical companies that there weren’t enough untainted judges left to allow the court to hear the case.”
Update White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced that the administration will "immediately appeal to the 5th Circuit." The Sierra Club will join the appeal.
© 2010 Think Progress
 

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/06/22-16

[thundley4]

Snarkle!

A good reason to smile today - not just because 0bama got his wee-wee slapped. Because it SUPPORTS those that need their jobs now more than ever.

I have a feeling we will be seeing more of this in the future. Recently Republicans in Congress have been stating if they get the majority in November they are going after 0bama with a truckload of investigations against his administration and policies.

I hope they start more than a few ethics investigations into various DemonRats in congress that Pelosi and Reid have chosen to ignore.  hen I'd like to see an investigation of the Holder and the DOJ.

[Crazy Horse]

Snarkle!

A good reason to smile today - not just because 0bama got his wee-wee slapped. Because it SUPPORTS those that need their jobs now more than ever.

I have a feeling we will be seeing more of this in the future. Recently Republicans in Congress have been stating if they get the majority in November they are going after 0bama with a truckload of investigations against his administration and policies.

Not a good idea except where warranted

[bkg]

This is good for a chuckle or three...

Judge Who Ruled Against Offshore Drilling Moratorium Invests in Oil Industry

I find this interesting for two reasons... They're effectively calling his integrity into question.... yet they refuse to do the same for Pelosi, et al, who have investments in carbon trading companies.

[Lacarnut]

This is good for a chuckle or three...

Judge Who Ruled Against Offshore Drilling Moratorium Invests in Oil Industry

Today, Judge Martin Feldman, a U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, sided with a drilling company which had argued that the Obama administration’s blanket, 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico was illegal. The drilling company, Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, LA, claimed financial distress from the imposition of the moratorium. In the ruling handed down this afternoon, Judge Feldman agreed, writing that the administration made an “arbitrary and capricious” decision that would have an “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.” 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
In his opinion today, Feldman wrote, “Oil and gas production is quite simply elemental to Gulf communities.” Indeed, it is so elemental that the justice system is invested in the oil and gas industry. As TP’s Ian Millhiser has written, “Industry ties among federal judges are so widespread that they are beginning to endanger the courts’ ability to conduct routine business. Last month, so many members of the right-wing Fifth Circuit were forced to recuse themselves from an appeal against various energy and chemical companies that there weren’t enough untainted judges left to allow the court to hear the case.”
Update White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced that the administration will "immediately appeal to the 5th Circuit." The Sierra Club will join the appeal.
© 2010 Think Progress
 

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/06/22-16

That's probably peanuts to what the oil companies gave to Obummer's political campaign.