Dem governor blasts Salazar for doing the bidding of green groups

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) on Friday said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has gone too far to placate environmental groups when it comes to oil and gas drilling policy. Salazar last week said Interior is expanding environmental reviews and increasing public input before leasing federal lands to energy companies. Freudenthal penned a detailed letter to Salazar Friday criticizing the changes, alleging that policymakers in Washington “go from pillar to post to placate what is perceived as a key constituency.” “I only half-heartedly joke with those in industry that, during the prior administration, their names were chiseled above the chairs outside the office of the Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals,” he writes. “With the changes announced yesterday, I fear that we are merely swapping the names above those same chairs to environmental interests, giving them a stranglehold on an already cumbersome process.”...read more