The only surprise here is that anyone would be surprised:
No need to wait that long, they might as well go ahead and rule now. After all, this is the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, brought to you by Big Oil.
The two judges on the three-judge panel that denied the restoration of the drilling ban, Jerry Edwin Smith and William Eugene Davis, both represented major oil companies in private practice before being appointed to the Court.
Not that they're an aberration on the Fifth Circuit. According to a report by Alliance for Justice, 7 of the remaining 13 active judges on the Court did likewise, with a client list that reads like a who's who of major oil companies--Exxon, Texaco, Shell, Gulf, and Conoco, among them. Five of those seven were appointed by George W. Bush. Now there's a surprise.
"The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals swiftly denied the U.S. government's request to restore the ban on deepwater drilling while the case is on appeal in a 2-to-1 decision shortly after oral arguments Thursday afternoon.
The ruling came as a surprise, because at the conclusion of the hour long hearing Thursday afternoon, Judge W. Eugene Davis of Lafayette, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, said the three-judge panel would rule by early next week.
[...]
The court also announced that although the Interior Department has not asked for the case to be heard on an expedited basis...it will hear the full appeal of the merits of the case on an accelerated basis the week of Aug. 30."
No need to wait that long, they might as well go ahead and rule now. After all, this is the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, brought to you by Big Oil.
The two judges on the three-judge panel that denied the restoration of the drilling ban, Jerry Edwin Smith and William Eugene Davis, both represented major oil companies in private practice before being appointed to the Court.
Not that they're an aberration on the Fifth Circuit. According to a report by Alliance for Justice, 7 of the remaining 13 active judges on the Court did likewise, with a client list that reads like a who's who of major oil companies--Exxon, Texaco, Shell, Gulf, and Conoco, among them. Five of those seven were appointed by George W. Bush. Now there's a surprise.
Best.answer.ever!
Spot on!
Well, Ultraman, er, Ann-Will you be unhappy when the Gulf is a black, rank cesspool of death?
Check yer facts, little one before spouting off in public, ONE disaster? Besides, ONE 911 is ok, ONE Pearl Harbor, one Challenger? SHEESH.
What does is take to get through to these people(?)?
There's one disaster that we know of, because it is so big it can't be covered up. And BP is doing it's best to make sure we all don't realize just how bad it actually is, with their dispersants, and their attempts to block photographs, and their lack of tracking the flow rate, etc.
Right now, there are literally thousands of abandoned wells in the Gulf right now that no one has even bothered to inspect to make sure they are not leaking. The MMS assumes the oil companies are taking care of them, and of course, the oil companies pretend that everything is just fine. Just like Tony Hayward told us that the environmental impact of this spill would be 'modest', and the government took their word for it until it became a farce.
This oil spill is about more than just an oil mess. It exposes just how corrupt our government has become. It has become a right arm of the largest financial, health and energy companies, and even Obama can't stop it because the corruption has infiltrated our congress, the Senate, and the courts. And this ruling just proves it yet again.
BP has already admitted they don't have a CLUE, not a freakin' clue, how to fix what went wrong here. Or how to prevent it in the future.
Knowing that....you are still willing to let those vultures keep on drilling in the deep water?
I'm upset about people being out of work also. I'm also upset about 11 good men KILLED. I'm upset about dead wildlife, dead marshes, a dead Gulf of Mexico. I'm upset about the future of our entire freakin' planet. And yes, until BP and the other companies figure out how to prevent this or fix it, we ARE talking about many major time bombs.
We're not talking about the regular wells. We're talking about deepwater drilling.
No need for deliberation if everybody made up their mind BEFORE hand.
Do I have to remind everybody to NEVER trust anybody with three names? Except maygbe James Earl Jones.
The British/American court system has never represented justice to my satisfaction.
I don't know about this one. Wells have been operating in the Gulf for a long time with no issues. Just because we have one disaster, does not mean every well is a time bomb. Shutting down all these wells is costing a lot of people their jobs. Non working people don't spend money, which costs a lot of other people their jobs.
I understand your point about the reach of big oil and the uncontroled power these companies have, but I'm not uphappy to see people go back to work.