Republicans dig in heels over environmental appointment

Republican efforts to slow President Obama's green agenda stepped up another gear yesterday, when senators blocked the president's choice for the number two position at the Interior Department, a key role with responsibility for oil and gas exploration.

Republicans, furious at recent moves by the Obama administration to tighten rules governing the sector that had been relaxed under his predecessor, voted against the appointment of David Hayes, leaving him three votes short of the 60 votes needed for the appointment to be approved.

It was the first time an Obama nominee has been blocked by the Senate, and Democrats vowed to undertake a second vote as early as next week, which they are expected to win after pledging to make sure all Democrat senators are present.

Republican opponents to the appointment of Hayes, an environmental lawyer who served in the same post during the last three years of the Clinton administration, made it plain that their blocking of the appointment was in response to recent moves by the Interior Department to limit oil and gas exploration.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar recently revoked 77 oil and gas leases in Utah, while the administration has also reversed a number of controversial Bush era rulings on endangered species and mountaintop mining that would have made it easier for oil and gas firms to gain permits for exploration and development.

Democrats said that the Republicans were guilty of blocking the president's green agenda and obstructing efforts to reform an Interior Department that has been embroiled in numerous scandals and accused of being too close to fossil fuel industries.

"It may be uncomfortable for some to watch us have to clean up mess after mess - from corruption to lawbreaking - that is the previous administration's legacy at Interior, but to cast a vote against such a qualified and fine person is the height of cynicism," Salazar said in a statement.

The Republicans' move further underlines the opposition the White House can expect as it seeks to push through a climate change bill and emissions cap-and-trade scheme that is being vigorously opposed by Republican representatives from oil- and coal-rich states.