Late Friday afternoon, we were notified that Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will be at Grand Canyon National Park on Monday morning to make a major announcement. He will be accompanied by Bob Abbey, Director of the Bureau of Land Management, Jon Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service, and Marcia McNutt, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey.
No further details were provided but there is speculation the announcement has to do with the expiration on July 20 of the two-year moratorium the Secretary imposed on exploration and mineral entry on nearly 1 million acres of federal lands, while an EIS is conducted on his proposal to withdraw the lands for 20 years. The EIS is still in process and the moratorium cannot be extended, thus creating the possibility that exploration could technically be resumed after July 20.
It seems that Salizar is going to go all in and announce that the prefered alternative is the 20 year withdrawal. I am not seeing any difference between the Obama administration and the Bush years in that ideology is driving policy and that Obamas promise to base dicisions on the best science is a hollow one. A pity.
ReplyDeleteObama will be firming up his environmentalist base before the 2012 election. That means will mean more of the same idealogy: closing federal lands to mineral exploration, importing resources from other countries and paying more for them, keeping the price of energy high so people will drive less, and promoting power generation from solar and wind power at a higher cost than conventional resources, etc. It also means keeping jobs overseas, which will result in less federal, state, and local taxes being generated here. Unfortunately, little concern seems to be given to reducing deficit spending and the national debt.
ReplyDeleteGiven that the BLM's DEIS failed to show any "smoking gun" much less any real reason for a withdrawl of any length, SaladBar will announce the slimiest thing possible that will lose American jobs, make the U.S. even more dependent upon imports and further drive the country toward 3rd world status.
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