Landrieu blocks Obama nominee over offshore drilling ban

[marmar]

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) on Thursday blocked President Barack Obama's pick for budget director to pressure for an end to a ban on offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Landrieu said Jacob Lew, whose nomination got 22-1 support Thursday from the Senate Budget Committee, "lacked sufficient concern for the host of economic challenges confronting the Gulf Coast."

"I cannot support further action on Mr. Lew's nomination ... until I am convinced that the president and his administration understand the detrimental impacts that the actual and de facto moratoria continue to have on the Gulf Coast," she said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Obama ordered a six-month freeze on deepwater offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico shortly after a massive BP oil leak from an undersea well.

The freeze was annulled by a court in July and promptly reinstated by the government. It expires on Nov. 30. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-09-24-landrieu-blocks-obama-nominee-over-offshore-drilling-ban/

[woodsprite]

1. Can he stick to his decision, and just interim appoint.

I guess Landrieu is getting more money from big oil than from Gulf fisherfamilies and tourism.

[Al Claybon]

2. Wrong reason for correct action. For the present-day Democratic party, that is about the best we

can hope for.

But the reality is that Lew will get the post after Mary wins her little point and gets Obama to lift the freeze.

Heads they win. Tails we lose.

[leveymg]

3. I suspect we already have two Republican Senators from Louisiana.

Mary Landrieu (R-Exxon)