Rebecca Wodder, the radical Big Green enviromentalist nominated by President Obama as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, won’t be doing anything in that job until the administration’s slow-walking extension of hundreds of permits for oil and natural gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is lifted.
That’s because Sen. David Vitter, R-LA, has placed a hold on the Wodder nomination and made clear the hold stays until the Obama-directed bureucratic delays on restoring Gulf energy access are relaxed. The Louisiana Republican wants the permits extended a year.
“Since the moratorium, oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico has been dramatically curtailed,” Vitter said. “In 2011 alone, more than 300 offshore leases in the Gulf of Mexico are due to expire. If these leases are allowed to expire, they will revert to the federal government, killing jobs and cutting off potential revenue from exploration and production. The U.S. economy will greatly benefit by allowing the offshore energy industry to get to work and stay working. Even President Obama said he’d extend the leases, and I intend to hold the administration to that.”
Senate rules allow any individual senator to place a hold on any presidential nomination that delays completion of the confirmation until certain conditions are met or the senator otherwise voluntarily relelases the hold.
