Gulf drilling moratorium rejected by oil-soaked appeals court
The three-judge panel that rejected the Obama administration's effort to enforce a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has extensive ties to the oil and gas industry, according to a report from a judicial watchdog group.
The panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which is based in New Orleans, ruled yesterday in favor of energy companies that say they're being hurt by the ban on new drilling, which was imposed by President Obama following BP's catastrophic spill in the Gulf. The moratorium was originally struck down last month by a lower court, which held it to be overly broad and economically destructive.
A report released this week by the Alliance for Justice found that many judges on the court have close ties to the oil industry. Two of the panel members -- Judges Jerry Edwin Smith and William Eugene Davis -- frequently represented the oil and gas industries while in private practice as attorneys, the report found:
Dennis was not among the judges who recused themselves in that case, despite his oil industry holdings.
The case heard yesterday on appeal was originally decided by U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman, whose financial disclosures showed significant investments in offshore oil and gas drilling companies. He also owned stock in energy companies including Exxon Mobil as well as BlackRock Financial -- BP's largest shareholder. Feldman rejected calls for his recusal.
"A great deal of attention has been focused on the political agenda of the current Supreme Court and its tendency to favor large corporations at the expense of ordinary Americans," said AFJ President Nan Aron. "But we are also alarmed by clear evidence that many judges in the Fifth Circuit are marinating in a pervasive oil culture, raising legitimate questions about potential bias, but also threatening to do great damage to the public's perception of the courts as a haven of fair and impartial justice."
The Obama administration vowed to issue a new moratorium if it lost the court case. The new regulations could come as soon as today.
The panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which is based in New Orleans, ruled yesterday in favor of energy companies that say they're being hurt by the ban on new drilling, which was imposed by President Obama following BP's catastrophic spill in the Gulf. The moratorium was originally struck down last month by a lower court, which held it to be overly broad and economically destructive.
A report released this week by the Alliance for Justice found that many judges on the court have close ties to the oil industry. Two of the panel members -- Judges Jerry Edwin Smith and William Eugene Davis -- frequently represented the oil and gas industries while in private practice as attorneys, the report found:
They also attended all-expense-paid "seminars" held at resorts in Big Sky, Montana, and sponsored by the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE), whose purpose is to oppose government regulation, promote free-market solutions to environmental problems, and to "explain why ecological values are not the only important ones." Judge James L. Dennis, the third member of the panel, has extensive financial holdings in at least 18 companies in the energy industry, a situation not uncommon among his Fifth Circuit peers.Judge Dennis was also one of the Fifth Circuit judges who heard the recent case of Comer v. Murphy Oil USA, in which so many judges were forced to recuse themselves because of conflicts of interest that the court couldn't assemble a quorum to issue a ruling. Consequently, the appeals court had to reinstate a district court decision in favor of the oil industry.
Dennis was not among the judges who recused themselves in that case, despite his oil industry holdings.
The case heard yesterday on appeal was originally decided by U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman, whose financial disclosures showed significant investments in offshore oil and gas drilling companies. He also owned stock in energy companies including Exxon Mobil as well as BlackRock Financial -- BP's largest shareholder. Feldman rejected calls for his recusal.
"A great deal of attention has been focused on the political agenda of the current Supreme Court and its tendency to favor large corporations at the expense of ordinary Americans," said AFJ President Nan Aron. "But we are also alarmed by clear evidence that many judges in the Fifth Circuit are marinating in a pervasive oil culture, raising legitimate questions about potential bias, but also threatening to do great damage to the public's perception of the courts as a haven of fair and impartial justice."
The Obama administration vowed to issue a new moratorium if it lost the court case. The new regulations could come as soon as today.
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Sue Sturgis
Sue is the former editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.