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Subscribe to RSSA federal judge threw out President Obama's sweeping ban on deepwater drilling yesterday, saying the White House rashly overreacted to the Gulf oil disaster. US District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans said Obama wrongly assumed that 'because one rig failed,' all rigs drilling new wells 'present an imminent danger.'"
NBC's Pete Williams reports: The federal judge who temporarily blocked the government's moratorium on deepwater drilling Tuesday is harshly critical of the Obama administration in his 22-page legal opinion, both on how the halt to drilling was conceived and on what effect it would have in Gulf states. The flavor of Judge Martin Feldman's order is captured in a single footnote. It quotes from an Interior Department report, which said the BP oil disaster was "commanding the Department of Interior's resources." He adds, "A disturbing admission by this Administration."
Yesterday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the administration would unveil a new -- and perhaps more targeted -- moratorium. "We see clear evidence every day, as oil spills from BP's well, of the need for a pause on deepwater drilling," he said in a statement. "That evidence mounts as BP continues to be unable to stop its blowout, notwithstanding the huge efforts and help from the federal scientific team and most major oil companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico. The evidence also continues to mount that industry needs to raise the bar on blowout prevention, containment, and response planning before deepwater drilling should continue."
Salazar concluded: "Based on this ever-growing evidence, I will issue a new order in the coming days that eliminates any doubt that a moratorium is needed, appropriate, and within our authorities.
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You forgot to mention that Judge Feldman, a Reagan appointee has large investments in the oil companies.
You also forgot to mention that, while Obama wants to stop all deepwater drilling in the U.S., he freely loans Brazil millons so that they can perform ultra-deepwater drilling.
Proof, please?
Evidence against the Judge as per the Washington times:
Sad but true.
By the way, this ruling ends the debate on what the moratorium covered.
It covered ALL drilling, not just new drilling, as those on the left were fond of propounding.
Obama is learning that his will is not enough to force his agenda on this country. He may have forced his HCR through, but that will be remedied in 2011 by not funding it, and repealed in 2013, with a new president.
no joe, no bo, nj
His adjenda, girl there is a sh*t load of oil in the gulf because some on screwed up while drilling 5000 ft below sea level. this is not his adjenda, this is about cleaning up this mess and seeing it never happens again!!
HIS ADJENDA!! PLEASE!!!!
no joe: in the first paragraph, it still only mentions new drilling. Or is there something here that I'm missing?
Joe Blow is an idiot. It only covered some 30+ wells in the area. There are about 3,600 gas and oil wells that will not be effected at this time.
US Navy Disabled Veteran - Retired
just like i said yesterday, she will embellish the facts to suit her, but even if it did cover all the wells, isn't it a good idea to stop this drilling for a time to at least clean up the mess that out there now just in case this happens again like in a week. then if there is another spill these same people who are glad the judge blocked the ban, will be mad that it happened again!!
Go read the ruling-the moratorium covered all 33 deepwater rigs-new and existing.
As someone else pointed out, it did NOT cover the billions in loan guarantees to a company with connections to George Soros that is drilling off the coast of Brazil for the benefit of China.
Obama sure has some strange priorities.
njnb, what is the name of the company drilling for China?
How about a link or more details.
The name of the company is Petrobras;
its major stakeholder is George Soros, through his hedgefund;
the company has promised China 200,000 barrels of oil per day from the site. Granted, China extended the company $10million in loans-but that ples in comparison to the $2billion from the U.S.-by the way,we have NO promises of ANY oil fromthe company.
More questions?
Yea, NJNB, why are you comparing Petrobras which is drilling for China of the coast of south america with BP which is drilling in US waters under US regulations (or lack thereof)? What does the price of rice in China have to do with a BP well blow out in the waters off the coast of the US?
The fact that the moratorium doesn't include Brazilian waters is not exactly a shocker to me.
So, Judge Feldman is now personally responsible for any subsequent rig disasters or leaks. I hope he is well insured...
Wait, Judge Feldman has over 17 energy stocks in his vast portfolio. I am sure he will be fine. Should we have Judge Feldman place his stock holdings into the $20 Billion BP trust account in case he tries to file bankruptcy?
Yes, the Gulf got what they want. Now we can all simply walk away and leave them to their oil and their precious oil jobs. When the rest of the Gulf is fouled and there is nothing left of the Gulf Coast economies, please do not cry to us about how government needs to help you out. You made your oily bed, I could care less at this point if you all choke and die in it...
Disgusted, Good Morning,
I agree. No matter what our President tries to do, these people just find fault no matter what. If they want to ignore the fact that deep oiling drilling is not safe, then so be it. Lets pull out our resources out of there and use the money to create some jobs where it will be appreciated.
There are enough loud mouths in that area that probally could lap up the oil with their big mouths. I feel sorry for the many people down there that will be hurt because of their elected officals, but hey, they elected them.
There you all go lumping us all into the same basket again. The number of people wanting this ban halted is a minority. The majority doesn't deserve to suffer at the hands of the minority. Nor does the environment deserve to be destroyed. The people who are complaining are losing money, their homes are threatened, they have children. I understand why they are crying out. Just remember all of the bitching and moaning that you are bitching and moaning about was caused by a bs regulatory system and a blown oil well. Put your broad brushes down.
M.Fisher,
You are correct that it may well not be ALL the residents of the Gulf that are cheering for Big Oil to resume drilling their deep water exploratory wells. But, the people of the Gulf states duly elected their representatives and THEY are damn near unanimous in their attitudes that they care not for continued or additional destruction of the Gulf and wildlife. They are concerned only with the income they are losing from their petro-chemical saviors.
I agree that it is sad that those most affected by this disaster may not be well represented by their elected officials. Maybe that is why the electorate should educate themselves as to the candidates, their positions on the issues, and which multi-billion dollar interests they are aligned with and have their campaign coffers stuffed by. It has never been a secret that the politicians in that area are all in the pockets of big oil. The electorate knows this and was happy to cash their oil checks and dividends when there was no reason to question BP's representation that there was zero risk and the established ability to clean up ANY spill. Now that the truth is becoming more clear, those that voted against their own long term interests, in favor of the quick and easy payout, can now live with the decisions made by their elected representatives.
This is why it is important to vote, get educated as to the issues, and then vote FOR your interests and not against them. Just because Glenda and LimpBalls wildly and mindlessly attack anyone that does not agree with you does NOT mean they have YOUR best interests at heart.
Put down the crack pipe, Dis. Man, have you got me pegged wrong! I don't listen to Limbaugh or Beck and I think the both are propagandists.
And as far as all of the info. that the people of the southeast are supposed to "know", I believe that oil production has been an important way that people across the US and the globe have made good livings since the auto was first invented. We here in the gulf states, regardless of party affiliation, were one with the nation in that we never suspected the level of corruption in the MMS.
We, like everybody else, assumed that regulations were in place to protect the environment and the people. Like you and everybody else, we were completely broad sided by this because it was only this disaster that let the cat out of the bag.
Stop being such a self-righteous azzhole, Dis. I'm not a liberal. If that pizzes you off then that's your problem. Your self-righteous attitude does the liberals on this blog a disservice.
Marty Feldman???? Really????
As always no bo no joe no job has it all wrong. The moratorium only covered the 33 exploratory wells, leaving the almost 3,600 wells already dug and producing still producing. It's obvious that Booby Jindal knew just which corrupt conservative judge, appointed by corrupt Ronny Raygunz, who was bought and paid for the big dirty oil. This corrupt conservative judge should have recused himself since he's heavily invested in Transocean, Halliburton and BP Oil so his only care was protecting his investment, not protecting a few jobs.
President Obama has a sure fire way of enforcing the 6 month new well drilling moratorium, send in the Navy and Marines to seize control of each of those 33 wells and secure them until the end of the moratorium. About time that President Obama exercise his presidential power and show these cowardly depraved repugnant ones like Booby Jindal and FatBoy Haley Barbour that he won't be pushed around by some local ignorant hicks from rinky dink red states.
President Obama Send in the Navy and Marines to Seize Control of 33 Oil Drilling Rigs!
Who is this No Jo fool? Does he/she ever get the facts straight, or do they just make stuff up as they go along? Sounds like it.
I think she's JoAnnaSmith's prom date. Tom.
As I said in the first run of this thread, President Obama should cancel all leases of deep drilling in the Gulf Region until the applicants seal the current leak and tell why it happened in the first place. They breached the original contracts with documented lies of assurance technology was in place to stop and recover from this exact event.
CANCEL ALL LEASES ! No more problem for anyone arguing. Let all justify the lies. I stand by my initial statements on how the Gulf Coast residents should be treated: Remove all government sponsored / paid / deployed from the region and leave them to it.
Why couldn't MMS go out and conduct proper inspections of existing rigs? If they pass, then let them drill. If it's a new well, then they have to go through all the hoops. If a rig was up and operating before the spill, why should it have to shut down now? Of course, had MMS done their job in the beginning, the Deepwater Horizons rig wouldn't be spewing oil now.
Stupid logic from a maggot of a judge who is well invested in the oil industry. He uses completely illogical arguments to protect his personal wealth at the cost of the environment and lives. Sounds an awful lot like people in DC for that matter...Mostly republicans.
By the judge's logic, I have to ask, why did the US gov't ground all planes after 9/11 for 3 days!! Think of all of the billions that were lost because of a mere 3 airplanes that had terrorists on them! Did that automatically mean ALL PLANES HAD TERRORISTS!?
That should be a cake walk. Considering that all of the damage that has been done by this oil gusher is due to no regulations in the process of drilling or in safety AND that these same regulations (or lack thereof) has been applied to all rigs being drilled in deep water, I don't see how the current or impending new moratorium can be thrown out.
From what I understand it only applies to 30 wells and, to the alarmists: all of the hype about
"These rigs will go to other countries to drill if we don't start back up"
is just a bunch of bullsh1t scare tactics. I don't think for ONE SECOND that they will not begin drilling again in the gulf as soon as the ban is lifted. Why??
Because there is oil and natural gas there, morons...lots of it!
Judge Feldman the well is flowing uncontrolably again today, we are waisting a lot of expensive oil on birds and fish, production is off, profits will suffer we need to drill baby drill before brazil, or china, or these damn dolphins get all of our oil.
Sounds like a conflict of interest to me. Maybe a judge should decide that has no stock in oil. Everything in this country always smells fishy to me anymore.