There is a very important diary scrolling off the lists, by EcoProfessor. Please read it and recommend it!
It reviews the possibility that David J. Hayes may be appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Obama, and the reasons that this would be a disastrous pick.
Please visit this diary and rec it. I don't know the author or anything about her/him, but I know the damage that a bad Secretary of the Interior can wreak.
The Department of the Interior is in charge of the following agencies:
* National Park Service
* U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
* Bureau of Indian Affairs
* Bureau of Land Management
* Minerals Management Service
* Office of Surface Mining
* U.S. Geological Survey
* Bureau of Reclamation
* Office of Insular Affairs
* Federal Executive Boards
I know that many of you may not follow Interior Department news much, but for those of us from out west, this is a HUGE issue.
The Bureau of Land Management (aka the Bureau of Livestock and Mining) is in charge of 264 Million Acres of land, or 1/8 the total landmass of the USA!
The Dept. of Interior manages a total of 507 Million Acres, or roughly 1/5 of the total land area of the USA!
Needless to say, the Secretary of the Interior can have an outsized impact on the Federal Government's environmental practice and policy. For example, all listing of endangered species must go through the Fish and Wildlife Service. So Lithium Cola's currently front paged diary on Coral Reef loss could be argued to have an Interior angle - that is, if coral species were declared endangered by the FWS, the Federal Government would be required to work harder for their preservation.
The post at Interior has been occupied by some real bad bascoms in the past. From James Watt to his protegée Gale Norton to the current Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, the Secretary of the Interior can do enormous damage. Or enormous good, as seen in the legacy of Democrats like Stewart Udall.
So let's not let another industry shill become Secretary of the Interior. At this time of environmental crisis, we need someone who gets it, like Congressman Raul Grijalva.