Judge Blocks Temporary Deepwater Drilling Moratorium
For Immediate Release
June 22, 2010
Contact:
Scott Baumgartner, [email protected], 202-222-0751
Kelly Trout, [email protected], 202-222-0722
New Orleans Judge May As Well Have Apologized to BP
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Friends of the Earth’s president, Erich Pica, had the following response to a federal judge’s injunction blocking President Obama’s six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects:
“The reasoning that this judge used in issuing his injunction is mystifying and absurd on its face. The judge held that President Obama’s decision to temporarily suspend deepwater drilling in response to the Gulf disaster was likely not based on a ‘rational interpretation of the evidence.’ That’s rubbish. The judge’s biased and out-of-touch injunction reads like it was written by Big Oil lobbyists, not an impartial arbiter of the law. I’m surprised that the judge failed to issue an apology to BP while he was at it.
“This deeply flawed injunction underscores the need for President Obama to nominate and for the Senate to confirm federal judges who apply the law in a fair way, not ones that are biased in favor of big corporations at ordinary Americans’ expense. It also underscores the need for a congressionally imposed moratorium on drilling that won’t be tampered with by the judiciary.”
The judge in question, Martin Feldman, has recently owned stock in Transocean, the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor, which was involved in the Gulf Horizon disaster. More on that here: http://www.judicialwatch.org/jfd/Feldman_Martin_L_C/2008.pdf
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