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The Louisiana judge who struck down the Obama
administration's six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the
Gulf of Mexico has reported extensive investments in the oil and
gas industry, according to financial disclosure reports. He's also
a new member of a secret national security court.


      U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman, a 1983 appointee of
President Ronald Reagan, reported owning less than $15,000 in stock
in 2008 in Transocean Ltd., the company that owned the sunken
Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.


      Feldman overturned the ban Tuesday, saying the government simply
assumed that because one rig exploded, the others pose an imminent
danger, too.


      The White House promised an immediate appeal. The Interior
Department had imposed the moratorium last month in the wake of the
BP disaster, halting approval of any new permits for deepwater
projects and suspending drilling on 33 exploratory wells.


      Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement late Tuesday
that within the next few days he would issue a new order imposing a
moratorium that eliminates any doubt it is needed and appropriate.


      BP's new point man for the oil spill wouldn't say Wednesday if
the company would resume deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.


      Asked about it Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show, BP managing
director Bob Dudley said they will "step back" from the issue
while they investigate the rig explosion.


      Also Wednesday, BP said Dudley has been appointed to head the
new Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, which is in charge of
cleaning up the oil spill.


      Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide
other services to offshore rigs argued that the moratorium was
arbitrarily imposed after the April 20 explosion that killed 11
workers and blew out a well 5,000 feet underwater. It has spewed
anywhere from 67 million to 127 million gallons of oil.


      Feldman's 2008 financial disclosure report - the most recent
available - also showed investments in Ocean Energy, a
Houston-based company, as well as Quicksilver Resources, Prospect
Energy, Peabody Energy, Halliburton, Pengrowth Energy Trust, Atlas
Energy Resources, Parker Drilling and others. Halliburton was also
involved in the doomed Deepwater Horizon project.


      Feldman did not respond to requests for comment and to clarify
whether he still holds some or all of these investments.


      He's one of many federal judges across the Gulf Coast region
with money in oil and gas. Several have disqualified themselves
from hearing spill-related lawsuits and others have sold their
holdings so they can preside over some of the 200-plus cases.


      Although Feldman ruled in favor of oil interests Tuesday, one
expert said his reasoning appeared sound because the six-month ban
was overly broad.


      "There's been some concern that he is biased toward the
industry, but I don't see it in this opinion," said Tim Howard, a
Northeastern University law professor who also represents
businesses and people claiming economic losses in several
spill-related lawsuits. "They overreacted and just shut an
industry down, rather than focusing on where the problems are."


      That was what Feldman essentially said in his ruling, writing
that the blanket moratorium "seems to assume that because one rig
failed and although no one yet fully knows why, all companies and
rigs drilling new wells over 500 feet also universally present an
imminent danger."


      Josh Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group,
said the ruling should be rescinded if Feldman still has
investments in companies that could benefit.


      "If Judge Feldman has any investments in oil and gas operators
in the Gulf, it represents a flagrant conflict of interest,"
Reichert said.


      Feldman's ruling prohibits federal officials from enforcing the
moratorium until a trial is held. He wrote: "If some drilling
equipment parts are flawed, is it rational to say all are? Are all
airplanes a danger because one was? All oil tankers like Exxon
Valdez? All trains? All mines? That sort of thinking seems
heavy-handed, and rather overbearing."


      At least two major oil companies, Shell and Marathon, said they
would wait to see how the appeals play out before resuming
drilling.


      The lawsuit was filed by Hornbeck Offshore Services of
Covington, La. CEO Todd Hornbeck said after the ruling that he is
looking forward to getting back to work. "It's the right thing for
not only the industry but the country," he said.


      Earlier in the day, executives at a major oil conference in
London warned that the moratorium would cripple world energy
supplies. Steven Newman, president and CEO of Transocean, called it
unnecessary and an overreaction.


      "There are things the administration could implement today that
would allow the industry to go back to work tomorrow without an
arbitrary six-month time limit," Newman said.


      BP stock dropped 81 cents Tuesday, or 2.7 percent, to $29.52,
near a 14-year low for the company in U.S. trading. The stocks of
other companies associated with the spill remained low despite
Feldman's ruling.


      In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron's office said he
would discuss BP and the oil spill in a meeting Saturday with
President Barack Obama. Cameron's spokesman Steve Field told
reporters Wednesday the men will discuss the beleaguered energy
company during a meeting during the G-8 and G-20 summits in Canada.


      Feldman is a native of St. Louis and former Army captain in the
Judge Advocate General Corps who was appointed in May to a
seven-year term on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court,
according to court records.


      The court meets secretly to consider government requests for
wiretaps in national security cases, such as those involving
foreign terrorist groups.


      A graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans with bachelor's
and law degrees, Feldman frequently jokes with lawyers before his
court about his friendship with Supreme Court Justice Antonin
Scalia, known for his strict interpretation of the Constitution as
written more than 200 years ago.


      Feldman has handled several cases stemming from Hurricane
Katrina, among them a lawsuit against the city of New Orleans filed
by a retired teacher who sued over his beating by police officers
in the French Quarter. The case was settled. Feldman also presided
over the first trial in a wave of insurance litigation spawned by
the storm.

      In August, he will sentence Wayne Read, a former movie studio
CEO who pleaded guilty to selling $1.9 million in nonexistent state
film tax credits to current and former members of the New Orleans
Saints, including head coach Sean Payton and Super Bowl MVP
quarterback Drew Brees.

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Judge blocks Gulf offshore drilling moratorium

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Disasters

The Louisiana judge who struck down the Obama
administration's six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the
Gulf of Mexico has reported extensive investments in the oil and
gas industry, according to financial disclosure reports. He's also
a new member of a secret national security court.


Judge who nixed drilling ban has oil investments

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