At present, oil saturates the Gulf Stream. An official six-month cessation of permits for new drilling did not actually affect the industry or government decisions. Despite Moratorium, Drilling Projects Move Ahead. To explain such an authorization and waiver, the Department of the Interior and the Minerals Management Services Division which regulates drilling, pointed to public statements by Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar. He did not intend to forbid all first cuts in the Earth's crust. Absolutely not. The Federal Government approved wells off the coast of Louisiana in June. Regardless of the day, or realities that are anathema to our citizenry, little has truly changed. Today, just as in yesteryear, we, the people of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect Union, polishpolicies to appear as though our civilization would wish to protect and defend all beings, equally.
Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar has accepted an offer to become Barrack Obama's Interior Secretary, CBS station KCNC-TV in Denver's Raj Chohan confirmed on Monday.
The Rocky Mountain News also reported a source within President-elect Barack Obama's transition team says Salazar was offered the Interior Secretary job and that he had accepted.
There are several items of note about this pick:
It is a real disappointment that Raul Grijalva wasn't the choice. Perhaps I spoke too soon about the degree to which Obama was listening to progressives during the transition. We seem to be nixing the occasional choice, but not achieving anyone who we are pushing.
It is worth noting that Raul Grijalva turned down becoming chairman of Ways and Means in order to stay chair of the Natural Resources committee. From this committee, he will have an ability to serve as a check on Ken Salazar. So, once again, we have a more positive development in the U.S. House than we appear to have in either the Senate or the Executive Branch.
Third, this is yet another Democratic Senate seat that will be filled via appointment. This could potentially be a positive, as Salazar was a fairly annoying Democratic Senator. He was a member of the "Gang of 14,", and was below average within the Democratic caucus on Progressive Punch. He wasn't the worst, and Evan Bayh didn't even appear to be targeting him for the new Senate Blue Dog caucus, but he wasn't exactly a particularly useful Senator for progressives, either.
Hopefully, Salazar's replacement in the Senate will not be his brother, who is a Blue Dog. That, plus the various corruption issues surrounding our Senate picks these days, would make him a poor choice.
To this Kossack's disgust, Harry mounted a highly effective run around that whole unanimous consent thing to secure confirmation of a guy for a DOI post.
The DOI sees some pretty dirty pool of its own, and Brer Wyden had had a hold on the nominee, Laverty, as a bit of hostage-taking to make sure action was taken on DOI corruption.
Evidently, this was not to Harry's liking. Because, while Wyden was holding his wife's hand in the delivery room, without any warning to speak of, Harry brought the nomination to the floor, and had it confirmed on a voice vote. Wyden wasn't there to object, and didn't send a surrogate.
(That's a bit of puzzle - surely he could have lined up one senator to hold the fort?)
Anyhoo - how 'bout that Harry? That old crook LBJ would be proud of him!
Now, I suspect there are a few acres of public lands in NV. And - well, it's just conceivable that Harry's motives in moving the nom were not completely goo-goo.
(Perhaps he got a wholly desirable log rolled in exchange. Who knows?)
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