Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman lifted the Obama administration's six-month moratorium on new deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The judge, however, owns stock in numerous oil and drilling interests, and may well have a conflict of interest, reports Politics Daily.

Among his oil-related holdings, Feldman owns stock in Transocean, the contractor that owned the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded April 20, setting off the chain of events resulting in the massive amount of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico since then. He also owns stock in Halliburton, which is also implicated in the disaster.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that he will continue to fight for a moratorium.

"We see clear evidence every day, as oil spills from BP's well, of the need for a pause on deepwater drilling," Salazar 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.

"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."

Gov. Haley Barbour issued a one-line statement regarding Feldman's ruling: "Hopefully, the judge's ruling will go into effect quickly and be upheld on appeal. The moratorium is bad policy."

Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that more than half the judges in areas affected by the BP disaster "have financial connections to the oil and gas industry, complicating the task of finding judges without conflicts to hear the cases."

Previous Comments

ID

158292

Comment

So we're implying that the judge's equities portfolio is affecting his judgment? Just want to make sure I understand what you're getting at. Regardless of the fact that he could be completely correct in this sense.

Author

RobbieR

Date

2010-06-23T11:05:46-06:00

ID

158293

Comment

The New York Times is reporting that ice crystals have formed on the cap and BP has removed it, leaving oil flowing unchecked.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2010-06-23T11:06:27-06:00

ID

158294

Comment

[quote]The New York Times is reporting that ice crystals have formed on the cap and BP has removed it, leaving oil flowing unchecked.[/quote]Actually I haven't seen it confirmed that ice crystals have formed, only that the cap was removed because an underwater robot accidentally bumped the vent system, which prevents ice crystals from forming within the cap.

Author

Jeff Lucas

Date

2010-06-23T11:54:50-06:00

ID

158302

Comment

So we're implying that the judge's equities portfolio is affecting his judgment? RobbieR, any person's judgment could easily be affected by their financial interests. In the case of judges, who should be impartial, financial ties to an industry can be seen as a conflict of interest. It is not uncommon for judges to recuse themselves from hearing cases when their personal best interests may color their judgment. Regardless of whether Feldman's decision was a good one (and there's a lot of noise on either side of the issue), his ties suggest bias.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2010-06-23T15:12:12-06:00

ID

158303

Comment

whether the judge was right or wrong in this ruling is irrelevant. he should have recused himself. can't have financial interest in a company directly effected by his ruling...

Author

eyerah

Date

2010-06-23T15:27:38-06:00

ID

158309

Comment

They have the cap back on now. http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20100621/US.Gulf.Oil.Spill/

Author

BubbaT

Date

2010-06-23T21:16:47-06:00