Anyone who wondered if the hollow "apology" and minimal reparations offered to fishermen and related businesses by the U.S. Department of Commerce last month might signal a change of heart by the department and its embattled National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration need not speculate any longer.
That's because a recent appointment and nomination for positions key to the fishing industry show the feds are committed, above all else, to maintaining the dysfunctional status quo when it comes to setting and enforcing oceans policy. Even worse, there are now signs that attitude extends all the way to the White House.
Take President Obama's nomination of John Bryson, a co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, to succeed Gary Locke as Secretary of Commerce. The nomination drew immediate fire from Democratic congressmen John Tierney and Barney Frank — usually staunch Obama allies — which should make it a non-starter. Both congressmen described the nomination and Bryson's NRDC ties as "troubling" — and with good reason.
The NRDC is closely aligned with the Environmental Defense Fund, the lobbying powerhouse that has — as it boasted in a now infamous 2005 grant request obtained by the Times — to influence government policy "from the inside."
Read the complete editorial from The Salem News.