Not convinced yet of the need to Separate Oil and State? Great article in yesterday’s LA Times, that exposes how a “rule designed by the US Environmental Protection Agency to keep groundwater clean near oil drilling sites was loosened after White House officials rejected it amid complaints by energy companies that it was too restrictive”.
It was also after Texas oilman and longtime Republican activist, Ernest Angelo, appealed to White House senior advisor Karl Rove complaining that the rule was causing many in the oil industry to “openly express doubt as to the merit of electing Republicans when we wind up with this type of stupidity. According to the Times: “Rove responded by forwarding the letter to top White House environmental advisors and scrawling a handwritten note directing an aide to talk to those advisors and ‘get a response ASAP’.
Rove later wrote to Angelo, assuring him that there was a “keen awareness” within the administration of addressing not only environmental issues but also the “economic, energy and small business impacts” of the rule
So although it looks like Rove won’t be now charged with leaking CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identify to the press, you could charge him with doing special favours for his friends in the oil industry. OK so it won’t get a Grand Jury out, but it leaves another stain on this Adminstration.