McCain blocks Interior picks

Former presidential candidate Senator John McCain is blocking two of President Barack Obama's nominees for positions in the US Interior Department until the administration weighs in on a controversial land swap to allow a new copper mine in Arizona. McCain said he would put "holds" on Robert Abbey, Obama’s pick to head the Bureau of Land Management, and Wilma Lewis, Obama's choice for assistant secretary of lands and minerals management. Both positions would have power over oil and gas development on federal lands. In the US Senate, any member can stall a vote on a nominee. The “hold,” as it is called, can be overturned with by a vote of 60 senators, but such moves are rare because they engender bad blood between Senators and parties. "We at the Department of the Interior are working diligently to address all of Senator McCain's concerns and to work with him on these nominations," Kendra Barkoff, an Interior Department spokeswoman, told the Arizona Daily Republic...Upstream