GOP Holds Interior Appointments ‘Hostage’ Over Utah Oil and Gas Leases

By Courtney Lowery, 5-14-09

Yesterday, Senate Republicans started a mini protest against Interior Secretary Ken Salazar by blocking he appointment of David J. Hayes to one of the department’s No. 2 spots.

As the Washington Post reports, “Republicans acknowledged beforehand that the vote was not a rejection of Hayes, who served for two years as deputy interior secretary in the Clinton administration; Republicans instead were making a statement of opposition to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s cancellation this year of leases for oil and gas drilling in Utah.”

But Ray Ring, at High Country News writes on his blog: There’s much more to it than that:

Amid that noise, which is led by Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, the underlying character of today’s Republican Party can be detected. It’s more evidence of the tremendous leverage rightwingers have within the party, and how they exercise it in the Republican primaries, pressuring other Republican politicians to avoid any middle ground.

... Utah’s Sen. Bennett has led the rebellion against Hayes by putting a “hold” on Hayes and another Interior nominee. Bennett says he’s protesting Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s cancellation of some controversial Utah oil and gas leases.

Yet until now, Bennett himself has been a centrist on environmental and other issues, as much as any recent Republican office-holder. Apparently now Bennett thinks he must satisfy rightwingers, to win the Republican primary when he runs for re-election next year. So he’s shifted to align himself with the defenders of poor old oil and gas.