Environment

Not A Good Sign

More than half of all federal judges along the Gulf coast are linked to oil interests.

MIAMI — More than half of the federal judges in districts where the bulk of Gulf oil spill-related lawsuits are pending have financial connections to the oil and gas industry, complicating the task of finding judges without conflicts to hear the cases, an Associated Press analysis of judicial financial disclosure reports shows.

Thirty-seven of the 64 active or senior judges in key Gulf Coast districts in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida have links to oil, gas and related energy industries, including some who own stocks or bonds in BP PLC, Halliburton or Transocean – and others who regularly list receiving royalties from oil and gas production wells, according to the reports judges must file each year. The AP reviewed 2008 disclosure forms, the most recent available.

Unless the laws change, these bastards will continue to get away with murder. The system is designed for BP and the others to slip through relatively unscathed. More extreme legislative action is required now -- but Republicans are filibustering a major step in that direction.