Showdown in Louisiana: Judge Orders Action On Drilling Permits

Judge Orders Contemptuous BOEMRE to Process Permits

By Vladimir

RedState.com

February 18, 2011

Judge Tells Government to Resume Permits for Drilling

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in New Orleans on Thursday ordered the Obama administration to move quickly on permits for new deepwater oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico, saying that the government could no longer justify long delays in allowing new projects to go forward. …
“Not acting at all is not a lawful option,” Judge Feldman wrote, adding that the delays are “increasingly inexcusable” and were causing drilling companies to relocate their rigs to foreign waters.

Not only that, Judge Feldman has ordered the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) to act on five pending permits within 30 days, and to report on its progress to the court. Those permits have been pending for as much as 10 months.

READ MORE . . . 

The Will to Drill

Filmmaker, Stephen Baldwin, went to New Orleans on May 14, 2010, intending to create a feature film based on a screenplay he had written.  However, with the collapse of the oil rig, and conversations with locals expressing their concerns, Baldwin changed his plans.  His film crew is now working on a documentary to be titled "The Will To Drill", which he describes as "a partisan exploration of the events that transpired after the explosion of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon and all that has transpired since."

Interestingly, actor Kevin Costner was also in New Orleans at the same time.  Costner has developed an oil separation machine that can suck up over 200,000 gallons of oil a day.  Baldwin filmed Costner's device in action in the Gulf.

Click the title to read more.

Did the U.S. Government Leak James O'Keefe's Privileged Attorney-Client Emails to the Press?

By Publius
BigGovernment.com

Attorney-client communications are among the most sacred in the American system of jurisprudence, so when James O’Keefe’s lawyers noticed at least two instances of privileged communication between them and their client appearing in the media, they wrote to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Mann in New Orleans: “O’Keefe materials improperly provided to media.”


Click title to read the full article and to read the attorney's letter.