by hook and by crook
from Grist:
Gasping and flopping like a landed fish, the Republican-led Congress
passed an offshore- drilling measure during its final days. The
legislation, passed by the House and Senate as part of a larger tax
bill, will open 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and
natural-gas exploration, with nearly 40 percent of royalties going to
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. The victory jig was
slightly muted by misty watercolored memories of a bigger, badder bill
that failed earlier this year: "When it comes to passing important
legislation around here," said Rep. John Peterson (R-Pa.), "you learn
to shoot for the stars in the hope that you might land on the moon." In
other ocean-related news, Congress shot for the, uh, StarKist,
overhauling U.S. fisheries rules. The updated Magnuson-Stevens Act
requires regional councils to combat overfishing and endorses a
cap-and-trade plan that would, as with pollution, allow oversteppers to
buy credits from those with a modicum of self-restraint.
sources:
Reuters
San Francisco Chronicle
The Washington Post
