Wes Orshoski wrote the following for Billboard magazine (reprinted on
Yahoo). Excerpts follow:
In a letter posted on Morissette's Web site, the artists claim that Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles is failing to properly oversee such national parks as Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon.
"He has been leading the efforts to drill for oil and gas on these public lands, and he's been working to weaken the laws that protect the air," the letter reads.
It asks fans to sign a petition demanding the dismissal of Griles at firegriles.com, a site and movement spearheaded by such organizations as Greenpeace and Americans for Energy Freedom.
For those of you interested in signing the petition, here is a link.
What interests me most about this article is the Bush Administration's response:
Department of the Interior spokesman Mark Pfeifle describes the comments of Morissette and others as "discarded talking points from partisan special-interest groups." He stresses that Griles has instead worked to advance the administration's initiatives to make the land clearer, the air cleaner and the water safer than when he entered office.
He adds, "To borrow a line from Alanis, isn't it ironic that a Canadian citizen who is not registered to vote in the U.S. is leading" the effort, which he calls "misinformed."
While enduring these attacks from "partisan special-interest groups", Griles has been receiving yearly income from oil, gas, and coal lobbies for the work he did for them before he became deputy undersecretary.
The $284,000, [Pfeifle] says, was approved by the government ethics office and in a bipartisan manner in the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee before Griles appeared before the Senate for his confirmation hearing.
"It's fairly standard when somebody gives up his or her practice that they receive payment for it," Pfeifle says. "He worked many years at something; you don't just give it away for free."
Because oil, gas, and coal companies are decidedly non-partisan, of course...