Senator puts hold on Bush Interior nominations; energy panel OKs Myers

Alan Bailey

Oregon News Online has reported that Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has placed a hold on two Bush Administration’s nominees for Department of Interior posts until “there is an acceptable way to fully fund county payments.” The payments in question fund rural schools, roads and county services across the nation. The original bill for the funding expires later this year.

“The administration seems to have forgotten about the needs of rural communities here at home,” Wyden said. “I’m going to keep reminding them that Oregon’s rural counties rely on county payments funding to keep schools open, maintain roads and provide other vital services.”

Wyden said that a tax provision that he and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., had proposed as a means of funding county payments had instead been used to fund tax cuts.

Apparently Wyden’s hold impacts the nominations of John Ray Correll for Director of the Office of Surface Mining and Mark Myers of Director of the U.S. Geological Service. Myers resigned last year from his position as director of Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas.

Myers told Petroleum News Aug. 3 that he wasn’t aware of the hold although he had head a rumor that a block on his nomination was in the offing. Myers said that Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee unanimously passed his nomination.

Wyden has requested that the Correll and Myers nominations be returned to the White House rather than retained on the Senate calendar.