The Senate has voted to give the government extensive new powers to decide how tobacco companies will make and market their products. Supporters say that could spare millions from smoking addiction and premature death.
President Obama Writes Note to Excuse Fourth Grader from School
Barack Obama surprised everyone when he wrote a note to excuse a girl from school today. John Corpus brought his daughter with him to attend a town hall meeting to hear Obama speak in person. When Corpus stood up to...
Obama may relent on some Utah drilling
By Jim Tankersley
Under intense pressure from Republicans on Capitol Hill, the Obama administration may reinstate more than a third of the 77 controversial oil and gas drilling leases, issued under President George W. Bush, that it blocked near national parks in the Mountain West.
In a report set to be released this morning, Obama's Interior Department sharply criticizes the process by which those leases, included tracts near Arches and Canyonlands national parks in Utah, were auctioned in the waning days of the Bush administration.
The auction "deviated in important respects from the normal leasing process," the report declares, including the Bureau of Land Management's failure to notify the National Park Service about tracts that were a late addition to the sale, and the Bureau's refusal to adequately consider the air quality impacts of the leases.
But the report, which stemmed in part from negotiations that cleared the way for Senate confirmation of the Interior Department's top deputy, also opens the door for the Department to reinstate or re-auction 30 leases on parcels that either lie in existing oil and gas development areas or "not near particularly sensitive landscapes". It instructs the BLM to conduct a more thorough review of those parcels to see if leasing them would be appropriate.
"The BLM team should do its work expeditiously," the report concludes. "Companies who successfully bid on specific parcels should receive timely feedback on whether they will be able to develop those parcels."
The report is not likely to win approval from environmentalists, who have challenged the lease auction in court.
The auction was held in December, barely a month before the Obama administration took office. Conservation groups protested, and incoming Interior Secretary Ken Salazar quickly ordered the 77 most controversial lease sales vacated while a special review could be conducted.
Western Republicans in the Senate, led by Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah, retaliated by stalling the confirmation of David Hayes, Salazar's choice to be his chief deputy. The Republicans relented after Hayes promised to personally conduct an expedited review of the leases, a process that included a tongue-lashing from oil and gas workers at a field hearing in Vernal, Utah.
"This report helps us unwind the problems that landed these 77 parcels in court with a temporary injunction," Salazar said in a press release this morning. "It is clear that in the rush to sell the leases, the previous Administration bypassed normal reviews and consultations with the National Park Service. Only when the light of public scrutiny was shed on the situation did they reconsider some of the most problematic leases, but many of the 77 parcels that were auctioned off are close to National Park units and even closer to other sensitive, world-class landscapes including Desolation Canyon and Nine Mile Canyon."
Fame: A Cautionary Tale
Many people dream about their 15 minutes of fame. But sometimes, worldwide celebrity comes at a cost. Case in point: Susan Boyle, the contestant from Britain's Got Talent, became a household name. She later wound up in the hospital, reportedly for nervous exhaustion.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar