"Arctic natives and caribou got a reprieve last week when some House Republicans refused to go along with adding Arctic Refuge oil drilling to the budget reconciliation bill. Conservationists are jubilant, though the feeling is tempered somewhat by knowing that Arctic drilling may be re-inserted when the final bill is worked out with the Senate.
Still, this is a victory and a sign that the hard-core drill and spill crowd is not polling well these days. Republicans who want to save their political hides will continue to reject any budget bill that opens the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling. Fear of political backlash prompted the Republican leadership to also drop a provision ending the moratorium on off-shore oil drilling.
But removal of the Arctic Refuge and offshore drilling provisions should not clear the House budget bill for passage. Outrageous environmental poison pills remain. They are mostly the work of the Chair of the House Resources Committee, Mr. Richard Pombo, a real estate developer from Tracy, California.
Pombo is a Republican in the DeLay mold. Oil and gas interests keep his campaign cash barrel topped up; he pays his relatives inflated salaries from those funds; he is deeply involved in the gambling-industry / Indian-casino money machine; he took thousands of dollars from DeLay's buddy, indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff."
Get the Story:Kelpie Wilson: Pombo's Poison Pills (Truthout 11/14) Relevant Links:
Rep. Richard Pombo - http://www.house.gov/pombo
House Resources Committee - http://resourcescommittee.house.gov Related Stories:
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