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July 14, 2008

Judge Squashes Drilling in Hard-Hit Michigan

Posted by Dave Blount at July 14, 2008 6:36 AM

What will it take for people finally to rise up against the autocratic left-wing judges who habitually impose their will in opposition to the populace and its elected representatives? Maybe high enough gas prices will do it. Here a black-robed kook in New Mogadishu does his bit to keep Michigan's economy in the dumps and prices flying high:

A federal judge has overturned a decision by the U.S. Forest Service to allow oil and gas drilling near a forest and a river in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula.

U.S. District Judge David Lawson of Detroit ruled Thursday the agency had acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" in 2005 by giving Savoy Energy LP of Traverse City a permit to drill an exploratory well near the Au Sable River's south branch. […]

Forest supervisor Leanne Marten said when approving Savoy's application that the project wouldn't significantly harm the environment and the company would be required to keep noise to a minimum.

But the judge didn't care to hear it, having decided that drilling for the precious oil we so desperately need might inconvenience a bird called Kirtland's warbler.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved the project shortly after the Forest Service granted the permit. But it has been on hold since Lawson issued an order in December 2005 blocking the company from clearing land to get started.

As we are beginning to learn, the economy simply cannot function if every productive venture has to run a gauntlet of moonbat judges with little or no accountability who can suppress anything deemed insufficiently progressive on a whim. If it's this bad now, imagine what it will be like after a few years of Barack Obama appointing judges.

On a tip from Sean G.