The Gulf oil spill is producing hundreds of lawsuits in several states, but federal judges are bowing out because of investments in the oil industry. Judge Martin Feldman, who threw out the President's six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling on Tuesday, recently held stock in Transocean and Halliburton. Meanwhile, two whistle-blowing scientists from the Mineral Management Service have talked to the New York Times about BP's plan to drill for oil off the shores of Alaska. The plan skirts the President's moratorium because its drill will be based on an artificial island three miles off the coast. So it's technically “on-shore.” We look at how the oil industry continues to wield influence even after the worst environmental disaster in US history.
The Oil Industry and the Government
Credits
Guests:
- Carol Williams - Los Angeles Times - @cjwilliamslat
- Russell Wheeler - former Deputy Director, Federal Judicial Center
- Robert Bryce - Manhattan Institute - @pwrhungry
- Ian Urbina - former New York Times reporter, founder of the journalism nonprofit The Outlaw Ocean Project
- Rebecca Noblin - Alaska Director, Center for Biological Diversity