Hornbeck Offshore Services, L.L.C. v. Salazar et al

Filing 73

EXPARTE/CONSENT MOTION Disclosure of Financial Interest of Court, If Any by Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Florida Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A - 2008 Disclosure Statement, # 2 Proposed Order)(Suttles, John)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA HORNBECK OFFSHORE SERVICES, LLC, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) KENNETH LEE "KEN" SALAZAR, in his ) official capacity as Secretary, United ) States Department of the Interior; ) ROBERT "BOB" ABBEY, in his official ) capacity as Acting Director, Mineral ) Management Service; and MINERALS ) MANAGEMENT SERVICE, ) ) Defendants. ) __________________________________________)

CIVIL ACTION NO. No. 10-1663(F)(2) SECTION F JUDGE FELDMAN MAGISTRATE 2 MAGISTRATE WILKINSON

MOTION REQUESTING DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL INTEREST OF THE COURT, IF ANY On June 22, 2010, the Court granted Plaintiffs' Motion for a Preliminary Injunction of the Government's six-month moratorium suspending operations at 33 exploratory drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico due to safety and environmental concerns. Plaintiffs in this case include a myriad of companies that provide services to support offshore oil and gas drilling, exploration,

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and production activities in the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf. In addition to Plaintiffs, the companies that own and operate exploratory drilling rigs affected by the Moratorium include a number of large oil and gas corporations, such as Shell Offshore, Inc., Eni U.S. Operating Co., Inc, Transocean, Noble Energy, Inc., and ATP Oil and Gas Corporation. See Minerals

Management Service, List of Current Deepwater Activity (as of June 21, 2010), available at http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/offshore/deepwatr/Current_Deepwater_Activity.pdf. Subsequent to the Court's ruling, Defendant-Intervenors became aware of a 2008 Financial Disclosure Report for Judge Feldman, which discloses that Judge Feldman then held stock in several oil and offshore energy companies, including Transocean, Ocean Energy Notes, Provident Energy, Peabody Energy Corp., EV Energy Partners, LP, Atlas Energy Resources, LLC, Parker Drilling Co., and ATP Oil and Gas Corp., among others. See 2008 Financial Disclosure Report, attached as Ex. A. Defendant-Intervenors learned of this disclosure report on June 22, 2010, subsequent to the Court's granting of the injunction. Defendant-Intervenors respectfully request that the Court release information sufficient to determine if Judge Feldman "has a financial interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding, or any other interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding." See 28 U.S.C. § 455(b)(4). Respectfully submitted, this 23rd day of June, 2010. /s Catherine M. Wannamaker John Suttles Louisiana Bar No. 19168 Catherine M. Wannamaker, Admitted Pro Hac Vice Counsel for Defendant-Intervenor Defenders of Wildlife SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER /s Adam Babich Adam Babich Louisiana Bar No. 27177 Counsel for Sierra Club TULANE ENVT'L LAW CLINIC

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200 West Franklin Street, Suite 330 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516 Telephone: [phone] [phone] Facsimile: [phone] [phone] Email: [e-mail] [e-mail]

6329 Freret St. New Orleans, LA 70118 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] Email: [e-mail]

/s Alisa A Coe Alisa A. Coe La. Bar No. 27999 David G. Guest Fla. Bar No. 0267228 Pro Hac Vice Pending Monica K. Reimer Fla. Bar No. 0090069 Pro Hac Vice Pending Earthjustice P.O. Box 1329 Tallahassee, FL 32302-1329 Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]

/s Mitchell Bernard Mitchell Bernard NY Bar No. 1684307 Pro Hac Vice application forthcoming Natural Resources Defense Counsel 40 West 20th Street New York, NY 10011 Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] David Pettit CA Bar No. 67128 Pro Hac Vice application forthcoming 1314 Second Street Santa Monica, CA 90401 Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] COUNSEL FOR NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL, INC.

COUNSEL FOR SIERRA CLUB and FLORIDA WILDLIFE FEDERATION

/s Miyoko Sakashita Andrea A. Treece CA Bar No. 237639 Miyoko Sakashita CA Bar No. 239639 Pro Hac Vice applications forthcoming 351 California Street, Suite 600 San Francisco, CA 94104 Phone: [phone] COUNSEL FOR CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on June 23, 2010, I electronically filed the foregoing with the Clerk of court by using the CM/ECF system, which will send a notice of electronic filing to the following: Carl David Rosenblum Alida C. Hainkel Grady S. Hurley Guillermo A. Montero Brian M. Collins Sharon Denise Smith [e-mail] [e-mail]; [e-mail] [e-mail]; [e-mail] [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail] [e-mail]; [e-mail] [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]

I further certify that I mailed the foregoing document and the notice of electronic filing by first-class mail to the following non-CM/ECF participants: John F. Cooney Venable, LLP 575 7th St., NW Washington, DC 20004 Marjoria Ann McKeithen Jones Walker Place St. Charles 201 St. Charles Ave., Suite 5100 New Orleans, LA 70170-5100 /s/ John Suttles John Suttles Louisiana Bar No. 19168 SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER Attorney for Defendant-Intervenor Defenders of Wildlife 200 West Franklin Street, Suite 330 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] [e-mail]

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