This guy really is a GOPosaur. And hopefully, we'll ditch him in 2010. Even his own party wants to ditch him- watch for a fun-filled republican bashfast come primary season. But my newest complaint about this guy is aptly defined by this headline
salt lake trib
Bennett set to block another Obama nominee
Bennett is putting a hold on Obama's nominee for Interior soliciter, Hilary Chandler Tompkins. He already has put a hold on David Hayes,who was nominated to be the deputy Interior secretary. And he's even bragging about this on hiw website for crying out loud.
Bennett's website-bleh
This hold is not due to any issues with the nominees, but instead he is trying to bully Ken Salazar into releasing 77 parcels of land for gas and oil leases that were put on hold after a court ruling in January that stopped the leasing process, thanks to a SUWA! lawsuit questioning the legality of the questionable parcels.
(Hmmmmm. 77 parcels of land surrounding Utah National Parks. Does that remind you of Tim DeChristopher, monkey wrencher extraordinaire? Those are the parcels that Tim bid on during the December auction and may spend 10 years in jail for his brave act. Guess he should have tortured somebody instead if he wanted to stay out of jail: read about Tim here and see how you can help)
Bennett claims:
This is a big, big deal with hundreds of millions of dollars for the state at risk," said Bennett, a member of the Senate energy committee.
But here's the crazy thing. Those 77 parcels amount to 103,000 acres. That may sound like a lot if you live in NYC, but in Utah, well, that's not so much. In fact, it turns out, that the BLM has an interesting website that tells you the following.
Utah lease FAQs
How much of BLM surface acreage is available for lease in Utah?
Approximately 17 million acres are available (open under standard stipulations, special terms or conditions or no surface occupancy), and 5 million acres are withdrawn due to wilderness study areas, national monument or withdrawal through existing land use plans.
How many acres of public lands are currently under lease for oil and gas in Utah?
Utah BLM currently administers over 3,800 oil and gas leases, containing approximately 4.3 million acres of land. Most of the oil and gas leasing is concentrated in the vicinity of existing production in the Uintah/Piceance and Paradox/San Juan basins located in northeastern and southeastern Utah.
So, Bennett is holding up key personnel for the department of interior for 103,000 acres. Out of 17 million acres currently available, with "only" 4.3 million currently used for leases. Oh. yeah. they want natural gas and oil. Fossil fuels. sigh. Obviously Bennett didn't get Jon Huntsman's memo about climate change. So if you would like to help see the Dept. of Interior get their nominees, please join me in contacting the senator. here is his contact info:
Washington, D.C. Office
431 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510-4403
Phone: (202) 224-5444
email link