Back to Basics

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Obama job-killing machine get kicked in the ass one more time. They wanted federal judge Martin Feldman to dismiss the drillers’ lawsuit challenging their original moratorium. No dice.

Via Reuters:

A federal judge in New Orleans rejected on Wednesday the U.S. government’s request to dismiss a lawsuit challenging its original 6-month deepwater drilling moratorium…The drilling halt was subsequently amended, so the government sought to toss out the Hornbeck lawsuit, arguing it was no longer relevant.

But U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman, who earlier this summer blocked the first drilling halt, said in a 20-page ruling that the government’s amended moratorium offered “no substantial changes” from the first one.

More scathing criticism for Salazar, via the WSJ:

Judge Feldman also noted that in crafting the second moratorium, Mr. Salazar appeared to have relied heavily on documents and data that he had at the time of the first moratorium order. “Nearly every statement in the July 12 decision memorandum is anticipated by documents in the May 28 record, or by documents that were otherwise available to the Secretary before May 28,” the judge said.

Related: A bipartisan call to lift the de facto shallow drilling ban NOW:

Rep. Gene Green (D-TX) and Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) have again written to Department of the Interior Secretary Salazar regarding the issuance of new permits for shallow water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The letter, co-signed by 37 Democrats and Republicans from across the country, is the second letter that Rep. Green and Rep. Boustany have sent to Secretary Salazar reminding him of the significance of the Gulf Coast economy and urging the immediate issuance of new permits.

“Before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, new shallow water drilling permits were being issued at the rate of 10-15 per week,” Rep. Green stated. “Since the shallow water moratorium was lifted on May 28, a total of 4 new permits have been issued.”

In a letter to Secretary Salazar sent May 20, Reps. Green and Boustany with 54 of their colleagues warned of the potential impact of losing shallow water oil and natural gas production. Since then, 14 rigs have been idled in the Gulf which represents 30% of the shallow water fleet. If the pace of new permits does not accelerate by the end of September, over 70% of the shallow water rigs will be inactive.

“There are thousands of jobs directly connected to shallow water drilling,” Rep. Green continued. “At a time when the economy is still coming back from the worst recession in recent memory, we just can’t afford to lose more jobs. My colleagues and I continue to share concern over this de facto moratorium and the deepwater moratorium as domestic energy production is not only vital to energy independence, but to the Gulf Coast economy.”

For the past few months, I’ve been spotlighting the Obama administration’s War on the West, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s War on Jobs,
and the White House land lock-up (Part 1, Part 2). Today’s column exposes the next Obama environmental power grab — into the sea.

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And now: The Stealth Obama Ocean Grab
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2010

It’s not enough that the White House is moving to lock up hundreds of millions of acres of land in the name of environmental protection. The Obama administration’s neon green radicals are also training their sights on the deep blue seas. The president’s grabby-handed bureaucrats have been empowered through executive order to seize unprecedented control from states and localities over “conservation, economic activity, user conflict and sustainable use of the ocean, our coasts and the Great Lakes.”_

Democrats have tried and failed to pass “comprehensive” federal oceans management legislation five years in a row. The so-called “Oceans 21″ bill, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Sam Farr of California, went nowhere fast. Among the top reasons: bipartisan concerns about the economic impact of closing off widespread access to recreational fishing. The bill also would have handed environmentalists another punitive litigation weapon under the guise of “ecosystem management.” Instead of accepting defeat, the green lobby simply circumvented the legislative process altogether.

In late July, President Obama established a behemoth 27-member “National Ocean Council” with the stroke of a pen. Farr gloated: “We already have a Clean Air Act and a Clean Water Act. With today’s executive order, President Obama in effect creates a Clean Ocean Act.” And not a single hearing needed to be held. Not a single amendment considered. Not a single vote cast. Who gives a flying fish about transparency and the deliberative process? The oceans are dying!

Waving goodbye to property rights…

My column today raises bright red flags about a little-noticed, radical green land grab program underway at the White House called the “Great Outdoors Initiative.” Keep in mind my previous coverage of Obama’s War on the West and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s job destruction. The War on the West is a war on property rights, a war on the economy, and a war on the American way of life.

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How Obama is locking up our land
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2010

Have you heard of the “Great Outdoors Initiative”? Chances are, you haven’t. But across the country, White House officials have been meeting quietly with environmental groups to map out government plans for acquiring untold millions of acres of both public and private land. It’s another stealthy power grab through executive order that promises to radically transform the American way of life.

In April, President Obama issued a memorandum outlining his “21st century strategy for America’s great outdoors.” It was addressed to the Interior Secretary, the Agriculture Secretary, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency and the chair of the Council on Environmental Quality. The memo calls on the officials to conduct “listening and learning sessions” with the public to “identify the places that mean the most to Americans, and leverage the support of the Federal Government” to “protect” outdoor spaces. Eighteen of 25 planned sessions have already been held. But there’s much more to the agenda than simply “reconnecting Americans to nature.”

The federal government, as the memo boasted, is the nation’s “largest land manager.” It already owns roughly one of every three acres in the United States. This is apparently not enough. At a “listening session” in New Hampshire last week, government bureaucrats trained their sights on millions of private forest land throughout the New England region. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack crusaded for “the need for additional attention to the Land and Water Conservation Fund — and the need to promptly support full funding of that fund.”

Like so much that emanates from Washington, this latest summer of corruption tale stinks.

Back in February 2009, you may recall that government spending watchdog GOP Sen. Tom Coburn first called attention to a $2 billion earmark in the Obama stimulus bill to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Dept. of Energy defunded because the project was inefficient. The pet project of disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin ballooned in cost, but survived attempts to kill it. Obama continued to deny the existence of earmarks in the stimulus bill, even as his administration moved forward to dole them all out.

Well, last week, Obama’s Energy Department crowed about a repackaged FutureGen earmark — the biggest in American history at $1 billion:

August 5, 2010
Secretary Chu Announces FutureGen 2.0
Awards $1 Billion in Recovery Act Funding for Carbon Capture and Storage Network in Illinois

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin announced the awarding of $1 billion in Recovery Act funding to the FutureGen Alliance, Ameren Energy Resources, Babcock & Wilcox, and Air Liquide Process & Costruction, Inc. to build FutureGen 2.0, a clean coal repowering program and carbon dioxide (CO2) storage network. The project partners estimate the program will bring 900 jobs to downstate Illinois and another 1,000 to suppliers across the state.

“Today’s announcement will help ensure the US remains competitive in a carbon constrained economy, creating jobs while reducing greenhouse gas pollution,” said Secretary Chu. “This investment in the world’s first, commercial-scale, oxy-combustion power plant will help to open up the over $300 billion market for coal unit repowering and position the country as a leader in an important part of the global clean energy economy.”

“As with the original FutureGen, Mattoon and the state of Illinois are positioned as leaders in innovative technology that can serve as a model for the nation,” said U.S. Senator Dick Durbin. “The new project stays true to the original goal of dramatically reducing pollution and providing thousands of good paying jobs in our state.”

A funny thing happened on the way to the Illinois pay-off, though. While Durbin rushed to secure the money and bragging rights, the people of Mattoon, Illiniois are saying not so fast:

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin demanded Monday that officials in an eastern Illinois town decide by Friday whether they still want it to be part of a futuristic clean-coal project despite radical changes that scrap plans to build an experimental power plant.

Last year, on June 1, 2009, I told you about constitutional lawyer/former Bush administration homeland security official Kris Kobach’s announcement that he was running for Secretary of State in Kansas.

He zeroed in on election integrity, corruption, ACORN-style shenanigans, and the left’s voter fraud racket. Kobach has also been at the forefront of the immigration enforcement battles — fighting the spread of illegal alien sanctuary cities, representing victims of bloody open-borders policies, and playing a key role in drafting Arizona’s SB1070.

Last night, Kobach won the GOP nomination — despite being outspent 2 to 1 in a three-way primary. The Democratic incumbent nominee opposes Kobach’s call for photo IDs at the polls. Look for open-borders groups to increase their attacks on Kobach — and for the Democrats to make hay of Kobach’s volunteer work on behalf of the immigration enforcement movement.

Kobach’s response is perfect:

He’s said that if he’s elected, he’ll work as secretary of state between 40 and 50 hours a week, then spend an additional 20 hours on immigration issues.

“Some people golf in their spare time,” Kobach said last week. “I defend American sovereignty.”

I’ll repeat what I said last year when Kobach entered the race: We need a Kris Kobach in every state in the country.

His campaign site is here.

As they say in the military: BOHICA.

On ABC’s This Week today, tax cheat Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner championed the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and pooh-poohed the economic impact of tax hikes on the highest earners in the country. It’s “responsible” to punish the wealthy, he argued.

Because after spending America into oblivion, Team Obama now wants to show the world that we are “willing as a country now to start to make some progress” on deficit reduction.

On NBC’s Meet The Press, Geithner crusaded for raising the capital gains tax rate.

Then, to show his commitment to fiscal responsibility, he said the administration is going to kick the can again on behemoth fiscal black holes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:

Speaking on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Geithner says he supports allowing the top capital gains tax rate to revert to 20 percent. It’s 15 percent now.

He also addressed the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage buyers whose bailout has cost taxpayers $145 billion so far. The financial overhaul didn’t address their future.

The Obama administration has said it wants to wait until next year to determine their future.

All hat, no cattle

Ken Salazar needs another ass-kicking
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2010

When President Obama picked former Democrat Sen. Ken Salazar as his Interior Secretary last year, the Coloradan donned a 10-gallon hat and dubbed himself the “new sheriff in town.” But Cowboy Ken is the one  who needs to be run out on a rail. In his continued quest to shut down offshore drilling, Salazar has run roughshod over scientific integrity, transparency, and the Gulf Coast economy.

Two federal courts have batted down the White House-approved, Salazar-directed drilling moratorium. Outraged scientists — appointed by the Obama administration, mind you — blasted Salazar for doctoring their work and contradicting their conclusions to bolster his manufactured case for the sweeping six-month ban. Undaunted, Salazar conjured up a “revised” moratorium rubber-stamped by oil spill czar Michael Bromwich, who sheepishly admitted that the new ban was “roughly congruent with the original moratorium.”

The sham changes would permit some drilling rigs to re-start operations – but only under onerous, fantasyland testing conditions that industry leaders say would be virtually impossible to meet. In short, Salazar’s “new” moratorium is a lot like Salazar himself: All hat, no cattle.

The Interior Secretary then strode into the first hearing of the presidential oil spill commission this week to tell the panelists that he wanted their work to “inform” his book-cooked deepwater drilling ban. It was, essentially, Salazar guiding the dog-and-pony show participants to bark and neigh on command. The panelists were “stunned” by Salazar’s explicit expectation of policy support, according to hearing observers, because weighing in on the moratorium had not been a part of their original mandate.

None of the panelists, conveniently enough, has actual technical expertise in deepwater drilling. So on what, exactly, can they “inform” Salazar? No doubt Salazar and his superiors at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have soaked up the online anti-drilling rants of prominent oil spill panelist Frances Beinecke. She’s a leading official at the rabidly anti-corporate Natural Resources Defense Council, where she publicly called for offshore drilling bans five times over the past two months before snagging a seat on Obama’s “expert” panel. NRDC was one of the leading environmental lobbying voices pushing for the commission in the first placde. The eco-tail is wagging Team Obama’s dog.

The only person who has been fired in the midst of the oil spill fiasco has been the former head of the Minerals Management Service of the Department of the Interior.

According to a June 17 editorial in The Wall Street Journal, it is now clear that both the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, and the White House energy “czar”, Carol Browner, both lied to the nation regarding the recommendations by drilling experts, alleging that they had agreed to a moratorium on oil drilling in the Gulf.

Browner, citing the falsified recommendation to impose a moratorium, inserted after the memorandum had been received, said, “No one’s been deceived or misrepresented.” She lied.

From the beginning of the oil spill, the administration has failed to respond in a timely fashion.

In an article in Human Events the following lack of action by the administration was cited:

It failed to accept help offered by the Netherlands to help with skimming booms and plans to create barriers.

It failed to suspend the Jones Act in order to allow foreign vessels into American waters.

It failed to suspend the Davis-Bacon wage laws to allow rapid deployment of new workers to help the containment efforts.

It failed to suspend FEMA contracting and bidding rules.

It failed to allow coastal governors to immediately begin dredging to create barrier islands.

Failure on this scale requires that those involved should lose their jobs. We cannot “fire” the President, but his administration is shot through with people from the highest level to those below that exacerbated the Gulf oil spill.

The Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu, has barely been heard from. The Secretary of the Interior has been silenced since his comment that he would keep his “boot on the neck of BP.”

It took nearly two months before the President met with officials from BP.

On Thursday, the Senate will vote on S.J. Resolution 26. It is an effort to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating “greenhouse gas emissions” without any legislative accountability. If the vote fails, the EPA will be free to continue its assault on the nation’s economy and every aspect of your personal life.

Here’s what my friend, Dr. Kenneth P. Green, a scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, had to say about the energy and environment “advisor” to President Barack Obama:

“Carol Browner’s selection as ‘energy coordinator’ (sometimes called energy czar) virtually guarantees that the Obama administration’s energy and environmental policies will be anything but moderate.”

“Her two terms as Environmental Protection Agency boss were marked by adversarialism, punitive enforcement actions, draconian tightening of environmental regulations and the message that business is destructive of the environment and dishonest about the cost of environmental regulations.”

And that was just the nice things he had to say about Browner. It is worth noting that Browner has been the lead spokesman about the BP oil spill for the Obama administration after it became obvious that Ken Salazar, the Secretary of the Interior, was generating negative public reaction to his ‘get tough’ approach and there have been few public statements issued by Dr. Steven Chu, the Secretary of Energy.

The current administrator of the EPA is Lisa Jackson who learned her trade working under Browner until she was picked to head the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. A Browner acolyte, Jackson has presided over an EPA run amuck.

Jackson will be remembered for leading the EPA fight to get carbon dioxide declared a “pollutant” that can then be regulated under the Clean Air Act. This is the same reasoning put forth by the constantly renamed Cap-and-Trade Act that is was a “climate” bill and has now become something else. It is based on the same totally bogus “science” that gave us “global warming” until Mother Nature decided that the Earth should begin to cool about a decade ago.

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., chats with his campaign communications director Robert Gibbs, before a rally in Tampa, Fla., Wednesday, May 21, 2008. As the marathon Democratic primary campaign nears an end, Obama's staff is on the verge of vindicating its belief that the eloquent black freshman senator was a unique candidate who could win the Democratic nomination. The band of Obama loyalists who imagined that could happen have stunned even themselves with their success against Hillary Rodham Clinton. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

One week ago, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs spoke to reporters on Air Force One as President Obama flew to Chicago after visiting the Gulf Coast to survey the oil spill response. The very first question Gibbs faced was what the president thought of attempts by top aides to lure Democrat Joe Sestak out of the Senate primary in Pennsylvania.

The administration had acknowledged earlier in the day, for the first time, that top aides to Obama did in fact offer Sestak a position – they claimed it was an unpaid advisory board spot – in a memo released minutes after the president landed in New Orleans.

“I’ve just been dealing with oil today,” Gibbs dodged. He then promised: “I will go talk to him about this after this.”

Thursday, however, Gibbs said that he had, in fact, not done so. Questioned once again by reporters about the Sestak affair, Gibbs said that he, one of Obama’s closest advisers, has yet to talk to the president about the matter.

“I have not talked to him about Sestak,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs also said he had not discussed with Obama the news that top White House officials also dangled high-paying government jobs in front of Colorado Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff, in a second unsuccessful attempt to clear a challenge to an incumbent Democratic senator.