Gulf oil spill: Moratorium judge owned shares in 17 oil and gas industry firms last year [updated]

The New Orleans federal judge who struck down the Obama administration’s six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling in the wake of the Gulf oil spill owned shares in at least 17 oil and gas industry companies last year,  documents released Friday by the federal courts administration show.

The 2009 financial disclosure report by U.S. District Judge Martin L.C. Feldman was made public by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts after media requests for an updated account of the judge’s oil and gas industry holdings. Feldman’s report for the previous year showed that he owned shares in about 20 companies involved with exploration, drilling or other industry activities, including Transocean and Halliburton, both at the heart of the ongoing disaster. None of the companies in his portfolio were parties to the appeal on which he ruled.

Feldman, appointed to the federal bench by President Reagan in 1983, reported last year that he had sold his Halliburton interests. But the report he filed with the federal court office earlier this month shows that he retained interest in Transocean, although he did not provide the value of his holdings or of interest or dividends.

A federal law requiring judges to step down from any case in which he or she owns shares in any party would likely force him to recuse himself from much, if not all, of the litigation arising out of the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.

Feldman’s 2008 report said he had sold his interests in Quicksilver Resources, a natural gas and oil exploration company based in Fort Worth. His latest disclosure form, however, shows he earned dividends of less than $1,000 on his investment in the company last year, the value of which he reported at less than $15,000.

The financial disclosure forms require that judges provide only a range of values, rather than the actual amounts of their interests.

Feldman also bought shares in Exxon Mobil last year, according to the report, also with a value below $15,000. Dow Jones News Service reported that Feldman sold his Exxon holdings on June 22, just before hearing the case. Exxon Mobil has interests in the Gulf that were affected by the moratorium, Dow Jones reported.

The judge last year bought or retained interest of that same value range in Valero Energy Corp., Crosstex Energy, Petrohawk Energy Corp., Enterprise Product Partners, Energy Transfer Equity, Basic Energy Services, EV Energy Partners, Macquarie Infrastructure, El Paso Corp., Provident Energy Trust, Peabody Energy Corp. and Ocean Energy Notes, the report said.

Feldman reported that he sold shares in August in Atlas Energy Resources and BPZ Resource Inc., posting gains of less than $1,000 on each.

[Updated at 2:28 p.m.: Feldman had a very active and diversified stock profile. He reported 142 different companies that he had investments in last year, and he acquired as many new energy equities as he sold.]

The judge had the option of delaying release of his financial holdings by 10 days but waived that right to request redactions from the 14-page report.

--Carol  J. Williams 

Comments

[cindyhoumala]

Why dont you when you print facts, print all facts. Like how the judge had stocks in oil companies..Yeah in 2008 and the day he went to court about this moratorium..That his broker called him up and said that he still had SOME stock still. So he said sell them..He hadnt given his decision yet. SO print the damn facts. Im tired of so called journalist printing not printing the true stories just so they can sound good.

[jai]

I was just waiting for this to come out. Feldman was hand picked to hear the case by Obama's attorney minions. I posted in several places a prediction that the Traitor in Charge would use this to tie things up in court long enough to b bankrupt enough oil companies to force a bailout then a takeover. Then there'll be the escalation in unemployment which will force more Americans into the govt. dependence that will lead us to his goal of socialism then communism which he thinks will benefit him as dictator in charge, but he better guess again. His Russian and Saudi backers are not novices. They'd sacrifice him in a moment to achieve their own goal of world domination.

[Matt Harney]

MINUTE ENTRY FELDMAN, J. May 14, 2010

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA

MICHAEL WILLIAMS * CIVIL ACTION

VERSUS * NO. 10-1243

TRANSOCEAN, LTD., ET AL * SECTION "F"

The Court owns stock in Ocean Energy, Inc. which is owned by Transocean, Inc.

Counsel shall within ten days notify the Court if there is any relationship between Transocean,

Inc. and Transocean, Ltd., Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc. or Transocean

Deepwater, Inc.