Deepwater Oil Spill Recovery Underway

By Adrianna McGinley

Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar touted the implementation Wednesday of the first phase of restoration projects to the Gulf of Mexico following last year’s oil spill, primarily the lease auction to resume oil exploration efforts along the Louisiana coast.

The first lease for offshore oil and gas development was auctioned off in New Orleans today, just 20 months after the Deepwater Horizon spill, something Salazar said marks a historic success in oil spill recoveries.

“This sale today…marks a milestone with respect to the greatest overhaul of in American history on oil and gas in America’s oceans,” Salazar said. “We are proud of how far we have come.”

Twenty oil and gas companies made 241 bids totaling $712 billion. The highest bid for one block was $103.2 million made by ConocoPhillips.

“What these results demonstrate is that there is a great interest in continuing to develop oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico,” Salazar said.

Poll: Ron Paul Holds Second Place In Iowa

Texas Representative Ron Paul is trailing GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich in Iowa by just one point, according to a survey from Public Policy Polling.

Gingrich holds the top spot at 22 percent while Paul charts at 21 percent. Mitt Romney trails at 16 percent.

If Paul, a libertarian-leaning candidate with an energetic core of supporters, comes in first of second the Hawkeye state, it will likely be perceived as a major upset to Romney and may hurt the former Massachusetts Governor’s standing going into the New Hampshire Primary.

The poll was conducted between December 11^th and 13^th among 555 likely Republican caucus goers.

Report: U.S. Drone Crashes At Seychelles Airport

The U.S. embassy in the island nation of Seychells says that an American drone has crashed at the country’s international airporport, according to Reuters.

A Defense Department spokesperson could not confirm the report.

News of the possible crash comes shortly after the Iranian state media reported that the military had shot down an American drone that was in the country’s airspace earlier this month. The aircraft is allegedly still in Iran’s possession.

Kagan Recuses Herself From Arizona Immigration Case

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan announced Monday that she will recuse herself from the high court’s challenge of Arizona’s controversial immigration law.

With her recusal, Kagan, who served as Obama’s solicitor general when the federal government initially filed suit against the bill, opens the window for a potential 4-4 split. 

Should the high court split the eight votes, the result would function as a win for the Obama administration because a lower court has already blocked provisions of the law, but the question of constitutionality would remain undecided. 

Similarly, conservatives have pushed for Kagan to recuse herself from hearing the challenge to President Obama’s healthcare law. Kagan, though, has repeatedly said that she did not serve as legal counsel during the development of the law’s provisions. 

Liberals, however, have also pushed for the recusal of Just Clarence Thomas due to the efforts of his wife, Virginia, to raise money in protest against the bill. 

Warren Now Lone Democrat In Mass. Senate Race

Elizabeth Warren has all but sealed the Democratic ticket in the Massachusetts Senate race against incumbent Scott Brown. 

Warren, a Harvard law professor, gained name notoriety after being tapped by President Obama to head his Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 

Warren’s entrance into the Massachusetts senate race has caused several of her opponents to drop out and, according tot he Boston Globe, the last of her Democratic challengers is expected to announce his departure Monday. 

State Representative Thomas Conroy was Warren’s lone challenger but in an interview with the Globe, he said that the Warren factor caused the departures of “the other strong candidates” in the race. 

Conroy said that he stuck with his campaign because there remained an opportunity for him to gain traction in debates, a notion he said “proved to be more theoretical than real.”