Corporate Welfare Wasted

Here's one for those who think that our current administration is in the pocket of big business:

Gas-Drilling Permits In Rockies Outstrip Ability To Tap Resource ... In response to White House orders to expedite gas extraction on federal lands, the Bureau of Land Management has issued more gas-drilling permits in the West than the industry has rigs to drill with or workers to operate the rigs, according to government records, industry experts and local officials. The BLM issued a record number of drilling permits last year, but the gas industry is struggling to keep up, with the number of completed wells flat or declining over the past three years. -- via Daily Scoop

There are two things going on here. On the one hand, the politicians are furiously sucking up to the energy industry. It's less about taking marching orders, and more about plying them with gifts. On the other hand, the corporate lobbyists are making the same arguments about the need for more drilling permits. This, it seems, is a classic bureaucratic failure. The lobbyists are out of touch with the reality on the ground, and so are pursuing a caricature of their companies' interests.