Harry Reid: “last year Congress adopted this requirement that Interior finalize 3809 rule changes only if they are ``not…”

“last year Congress adopted this requirement that Interior finalize 3809 rule changes only if they are ``not inconsistent'' with the recommendations of the NRC report I already described. Parsing this statutory language to the point of absurdity, the Interior Solicitor quickly wrote and circulated a legal opinion concluding that Congress intended by this action to require Interior's consideration only of material in the report specifically labeled as ``recommendations''--amounting only to a few lines of the report--and no other information in the report. And, he went on to conclude that this law imposes no significant limitations on the agency's ability to finalize its proposed 3809 rule. This year we have adopted the consistency requirement again, just as it was written last year. I ask the Chairman, did we enact the language again just to ratify the legal conclusion that Interior could finalize 3809 rules essentially without restrictions?”