Posted on 02/07/2010 2:20:22 PM PST by reaganaut1
An email last fall from a top Interior Department official indicates public comments ran two-to-one in favor of a Bush administration plan to expand offshore drilling.
The email from Liz Birnbaum, director of the Minerals Management Service which manages the nation’s offshore oil and natural gas reserves, also suggests how Interior Secretary Ken Salazar could avoid publicly acknowledging the support for the plan, which calls for opening the Atlantic seaboard to drilling, a step many environmentalists and some Democrats oppose.
“The Secretary may get questions about this [Freedom of Information Act] request while he’s in Houston … We do have a preliminary tabulation of the comments, it has not yet gone to the Secretary,” according to the email dated last Oct. 27 and sent to several Salazar aides. “So the Secretary can honestly say in response to any questions that he’s [SIC] has not yet seen the analysis of the comments – staff is still working on it. I did, however, confirm to him the 2-1 split that these guys are emphasizing.”
“These guys” would be officials at American Solutions for Winning the Future, a Washington-based group led by former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The group advocates expanded offshore petroleum drilling. It obtained the email this week through a Freedom of Information Act request, and shared it with Washington Wire.
The proposal, published by the Bush administration on its last business day in office, is awaiting a decision by Salazar. Shortly after taking office, Salazar extended the public comment period by 180 days. Oil and gas industry officials and Republicans accused the secretary of foot-dragging.
The department said in September, after the comment period ended, that it received more than 530,000 comments, but didn’t say how many were in favor or opposed.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
The article says that the comments on offshore drilling are available on regulations.gov . Could someone show me where exactly?
That might create real jobs and improve the economy. Not good. We must continue destroying the country at all cost.
How about on-shore drilling as well?
No we must destroy America.
Why should anyone feel any sympathy for CA or any other state that has off shore oil potential who find themselves with budget shortfalls?
What part of the Alaska oil experience is lost on the states?
It doesn’t take an idiot to understand that if a debtor nation has massive resources in the ground and under the sea they should be utilized and sold to the highest bidder. Now that global warming is shown to be a complete fraud its time to drill, drill, drill and create thousands of new jobs.
The zero and his America haters are opposed to allowing the US to actually achieve energy independence.
Offshore,onshore,nuclear,gas,any of these forms of energy don’t add to the obamination’s agenda of all govt. all the time. They want control over us not energy independence. Unless its all owned by the govt.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.