For all his John Wayne rhetoric on the BP oil spill President Obama has failed to administer a swift kick to the ample deserving rump of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. No matter. Federal judge Martin Feldman has now done the job the White House wont do.
In a scathing ruling issued Tuesday afternoon New Orleans-based Feldman overturned the administrations radical six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling -- and he singled out Salazars central role in jury-rigging a federal panels scientific report to bolster flagrantly politicized conclusions. In a sane world Salazars head would roll. In Obamas world he gets immunity.
The suit challenging Obamas desperately political ban was filed by Covington La. rig company Hornbeck Offshore Services which spoke on behalf of all the small people in the industry whose economic survival is at stake. As the plaintiffs lawyer argued in court the overbroad ban promised to be more devastating to Gulf workers than the spill itself. This is an unprecedented industry-wide shutdown. Never before has the government done this attorney Carl Rosenblum said.
Scientists who served on the committee expressed outrage upon discovering earlier this month that Salazar had -- unilaterally and without warning -- inserted a blanket drilling ban recommendation into their report. As Feldman recounted in his ruling:
In the Executive Summary to the Report (Salazar) recommends a six-month moratorium on permits for new wells being drilled using floating rigs. He also recommends an immediate halt to drilling operations on the 33 permitted wells not including relief wells currently being drilled by BP that are currently being drilled using floating rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Much to the governments discomfort and this Courts uneasiness the Summary also states that the recommendations contained in this report have been peer-reviewed by seven experts identified by the National Academy of Engineering. As the plaintiffs and the experts themselves pointedly observe this statement was misleading. The experts charge it was a misrepresentation. It was factually incorrect.
Allow me to be more injudicious: Salazar lied. Salazar committed fraud. Salazar sullied the reputations of the experts involved and abused his authority.
And for what purpose? To exploit the Gulf crisis appease the eco-extremists and stymie the economic recovery to which the Obama White House pays oily lip service.
The scientists whose views were misrepresented reportedly received an apology from the evidence-doctoring Salazar but where are the consequences? Where is the accountability? Terrific news: Salazar the report-rigger is in charge of overseeing it. Thats right. The Teflon Interior Secretary spent Monday afternoon swearing in another bureaucrat litigator Michael Bromwich who will head the newly named Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement (formerly the beleaguered Minerals Management Service).
According to Salazar Bromwich will be a key part of our team as we continue to change the way the Department of the Interior does business. Present company exempted of course.
Feldman soberly illuminated the way the Department of Interior does business in concluding that Salazars invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in depths of over 500 feet simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs the local economy the Gulf region and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country. Salazar with his bosss blessing imposed the blanket moratorium on Hornbeck and 33 permitted rigs without a shred of threat/safety analysis. Of course Hope and Change have always been exercised with Arbitrary and Capricious power.
The White House immediately announced plans to appeal the ruling. But for once Chicago-on-the-Potomac has run smack into the rule of law and lost. For all the other small people over whom the Obama administration has run roughshod lets hope it sets a lasting precedent.
Michelle Malkin is the author of Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats Crooks & Cronies
For all his John Wayne rhetoric on the BP oil spill President Obama has failed to administer a swift kick to the ample deserving rump of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. No matter. Federal judge Martin Feldman has now done the job the White House wont do.
In a scathing ruling issued Tuesday afternoon New Orleans-based Feldman overturned the administrations radical six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling -- and he singled out Salazars central role in jury-rigging a federal panels scientific report to bolster flagrantly politicized conclusions. In a sane world Salazars head would roll. In Obamas world he gets immunity.
The suit challenging Obamas desperately political ban was filed by Covington La. rig company Hornbeck Offshore Services which spoke on behalf of all the small people in the industry whose economic survival is at stake. As the plaintiffs lawyer argued in court the overbroad ban promised to be more devastating to Gulf workers than the spill itself. This is an unprecedented industry-wide shutdown. Never before has the government done this attorney Carl Rosenblum said.
Scientists who served on the committee expressed outrage upon discovering earlier this month that Salazar had -- unilaterally and without warning -- inserted a blanket drilling ban recommendation into their report. As Feldman recounted in his ruling:
In the Executive Summary to the Report (Salazar) recommends a six-month moratorium on permits for new wells being drilled using floating rigs. He also recommends an immediate halt to drilling operations on the 33 permitted wells not including relief wells currently being drilled by BP that are currently being drilled using floating rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Much to the governments discomfort and this Courts uneasiness the Summary also states that the recommendations contained in this report have been peer-reviewed by seven experts identified by the National Academy of Engineering. As the plaintiffs and the experts themselves pointedly observe this statement was misleading. The experts charge it was a misrepresentation. It was factually incorrect.
Allow me to be more injudicious: Salazar lied. Salazar committed fraud. Salazar sullied the reputations of the experts involved and abused his authority.
And for what purpose? To exploit the Gulf crisis appease the eco-extremists and stymie the economic recovery to which the Obama White House pays oily lip service.
The scientists whose views were misrepresented reportedly received an apology from the evidence-doctoring Salazar but where are the consequences? Where is the accountability? Terrific news: Salazar the report-rigger is in charge of overseeing it. Thats right. The Teflon Interior Secretary spent Monday afternoon swearing in another bureaucrat litigator Michael Bromwich who will head the newly named Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement (formerly the beleaguered Minerals Management Service).
According to Salazar Bromwich will be a key part of our team as we continue to change the way the Department of the Interior does business. Present company exempted of course.
Feldman soberly illuminated the way the Department of Interior does business in concluding that Salazars invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in depths of over 500 feet simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs the local economy the Gulf region and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country. Salazar with his bosss blessing imposed the blanket moratorium on Hornbeck and 33 permitted rigs without a shred of threat/safety analysis. Of course Hope and Change have always been exercised with Arbitrary and Capricious power.
The White House immediately announced plans to appeal the ruling. But for once Chicago-on-the-Potomac has run smack into the rule of law and lost. For all the other small people over whom the Obama administration has run roughshod lets hope it sets a lasting precedent.
Michelle Malkin is the author of Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats Crooks & Cronies
