Wednesday April 18 12:48 AM ET

Interior Department Rejects Plea From Bush Brother

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration has rejected an appeal from President Bush (news - web sites)'s younger brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, to scrap the planned auction of offshore oil and gas leases in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, USA Today reported Wednesday.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton informed the governor last week that the administration plans to post notices of the sale in July, the newspaper said, citing a letter disclosed by Interior Department officials Tuesday.

``I must consider our nation's energy needs and appropriate management of the American public's natural resources,'' Norton said in the letter to the younger Bush.

While President Bush is pressing for the opening of pristine Alaska wilderness to oil drilling to meet U.S. energy needs, his brother has been leading Florida's effort to block the sale of offshore oil and gas leases off the coast of the Sunshine State.

In January, Jeb Bush wrote to then acting Secretary of the Interior Tom Slonaker urging that the planned sale by the U.S. Minerals Management Service be dropped.

``I am confident that the new administration will recognize the need to protect sensitive natural resources located both offshore and along Florida's coastline for the benefit of the entire nation,'' he wrote.

Florida officials are concerned that oil spills or even the presence of oil and gas equipment could harm its image as a vacation paradise and hurt its tourist trade, even though the blocks up for sale are more than 100 miles (160 kms) offshore.

The lease sale area, situated south of Alabama and the western Florida panhandle, represents only eight percent of the federal government's Eastern Gulf planning area.

The lease sale is scheduled for December and would be the first such auction since 1988.

Most of the Eastern Gulf is closed to oil and gas exploration under a moratorium put in place by former President George Bush and extended until 2012 by former President Bill Clinton in recognition of Florida's concerns about offshore oil and gas drilling.

-- (Dumbya thinks he's JR Ewing @ will fuck his own family. for oil), April 18, 2001

Answers

That boy ain't right. He is a major class fuck up. I believe he would fuck his own mother over if it furthered his evil ways, but then aren't all repugs like that?

-- Tony Baloney (Fuck the@repugs.com), April 18, 2001.

Sheeesh, if Jeb had known Dumbya was even going to screw his own brother in favor of big oil, he probably wouldn't have helped him pull off the Florida election scam.

-- (Dumbya the psycho @ power. puppet), April 18, 2001.

Little Jebby's a Bush. He was just paying mouth service to the State, knowing full well Georgie would not be "influenced" by the letter.

This is just more attempts to manipulate the public into believing Georgie feels so strongly about his agenda that even his Brother cannot influence him to change his course. Remember Jebby promised him Florida in the election and used every dirty trick to achieve that goal. This attempt to distance them from each other is just more spin.

Expect the whitehouse to play on this, claiming even family wishes must be denied in the interest of providing the much needed energy the country demands.

They can claim we must bite the bullet on enviromental issues just like little Jebby will. Good try, but patently contrived.

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), April 18, 2001.

You have a talent in titling threads. My hat's off to you for your creative attention grabber.

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), April 18, 2001.