The Senate yesterday confirmed Dirk Kempthorne as the new Secretary of the Interior on a voice vote, meaning the individual votes of individual Senators were not recorded. Seems like a spineless way to make such an important decision, don’t you think? Prior to the confirmation vote, the Senate voted 85-8 to invoke cloture, which allowed the actual Kempthorne vote. The only Senators willing to oppose cloture (and thus Kempthorne) were Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY), John Kerry (D-MA), Mark Dayton (D-MN), Joseph Biden (D-DE), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), and Bob Nelson (D-FL). Senator Nelson maintained his opposition based on Kempthorne’s support for new oil rigs off the Florida coast. Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), on the other hand, who had opposed Kempthorne because of the administration’s refusal to share any offshore oil and gas royalties with Gulf Coast states, withdrew her opposition after he met with her and agreed to visit Louisiana’s wetlands. We can all expect Kempthorne to loyally pursue the Bush Administration’s agenda of weakening every environmental law and every environmental protection they can get their hands on.

If you want to know more, you can check out this review of Kempthorne's environmental record (borrowed from some of our conservation colleagues).