Sadly, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is far from an advocate of environmental protection. The environmental catastrophe in the Gulf has brought to light just how cozied up he and his department is with regulators.
:mad:
NEW ORLEANS, La. - May 27, 2010 - The Center for Biological Diversity today filed suit against Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Minerals Management Service to strike down the agency's exemption of 49 Gulf of Mexico drilling projects from all environmental review. The suit was filed in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
Just like BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling plan, all 49 plans in today's suit state that no environmental review is necessary because there is essentially no chance of a large oil spill, and if a spill were to occur, it would be quickly cleaned up with no lasting damage.
"Secretary Salazar continues to exercise extremely poor judgment in approving these plans without meaningful environmental review," said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center. "He seems to have learned nothing from the oil pouring out into the Gulf of Mexico. Since Salazar is unwilling to shut down the use of environmental waivers that even the president has denounced, we are asking the courts to do so."http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/05/27-15SAN FRANCISCO (5/14/10) — The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a formal notice of intent to sue Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for ignoring marine-mammal protection laws when approving offshore drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Since Salazar took office, the Department of the Interior has approved three lease sales, more than 100 seismic surveys, and more than 300 drilling operations without permits required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act that are designed to protect endangered whales and other marine mammals from harmful offshore oil activities.
“Under Salazar’s watch, the Department of the Interior has treated the Gulf of Mexico as a sacrifice area where laws are ignored and wildlife protection takes a backseat to oil-company profits,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director for the Center.http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2010/marine-mammals-05-14-2010.html:grr:
Many of us were very disappointed in President Obama's appointment of ecologically luke warm Salazar. Salazar needs to be replaced immediately with someone that gives a damn!!!
All those Republican's (and some Dems) that voted for deregulation of the oil industry are all complicit partners in this tragedy --- their actions are no less than criminal!
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