Arches National Park and its environs has been generating a lot of news lately. In December 2008, Tim DeChristopher sabotaged the Bush administration's midnight auctions of oil and gas leases near Arches. (Yay!) DeChristopher was arrested (boo!), protests and legal defense funds following as day follows night (yay!). Next, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar revoked 77 of the leases (yay!), saying that he'll reconsider them (boo!) after his proposed deputy David Hayes (yay!) gets confirmed...but Bob Bennett (R-UT) succeeds in blocking Hayes' nomination because Salazar rescinded the leases (boo!). Three oil & gas companies who held leases on adjacent lands sued to force Salazar to give them the new leases (boo!). Meanwhile, the credit card legislation that Obama says he wants to sign has been hijacked by the Senate's guns-in-national-parks amendment (boo!). I've counted four yays and five boos, but I'm glossing over nuance, and even the simplistic account above is enough to make one's head spin.
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