Governor Mead's going to focus on ESA reform...!

Commodities are in a global crash, with demand and prices likely to be suppressed for quite a while. It's usually in times like these that people want to pull out the stops and maximize the glut to make up for lost income, when it will only push prices lower and make operations less profitable. Some of the big mining companies have already been tapering production, even mines that were just opened to feed Chinese demand. The governor is making a poor bargain; he would further compromise what's left of the natural world for very little gain. Even by the measure of those who would support it, this would be a failure.