Duplicity in Action

We heard the President talk about expanding research into alternative fuels, but said nothing about conservation.  He also did not fulfil his constitutional mandate to inform congress of the state of the Union.  If he had, when he was talking about energy, he might have let us know about what he is doing while the media is napping:

Analysis of “Time Sensitive” Plans Shows BLM Shifted Policies to Facilitate Dramatically Expanded Drilling in New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah

January 12, 2006 (Washington, DC) - An analysis of 11 pending and completed oil and gas plans for key Western areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management shows that BLM has increasingly overridden its own policies to facilitate dramatically expanded drilling on public lands. The analysis of 11 BLM priority plans, which affect more than 30 million acres in Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Utah, shows that the plans will lead to more than triple the amount of wells allowed to be drilled, as compared to current conditions.
 
"In its rush to open more and more Western land to oil and gas development, the Interior Department has essentially abandoned its mandate to manage these lands for a variety of uses, including recreation and conservation," said The Wilderness Society's Nada Culver, who analyzed the plans. "Instead, the agency is auctioning off public lands to the semi-private profitable domain of oil and gas companies. The amount of land dedicated for planned oil and gas development will exclude other uses and will inevitably permanently damage these places. The lack of balance in these plans is shocking and has grave implications for Westerners and wildlife that depend on these lands." [...]

He's auctioning off land -- our land -- to private companies that will use it to expand their profits, which are already at record levels.  That is the state of our Union.