By Katie Connolly and Daniel Stone

Keen followers of health-care reform are about to become entranced by the workings of a man most have never heard of until now: Alan Frumin. No, he's not the sausage king of Chicago. He's the Senate Parliamentarian. Those who've watched Senate sessions on C-Span have probably seen the unassuming Frumin perched on the dais advising the Presiding Officer on arcane procedural regulations. These days, it's looking ever more likely that if health-care reform is to be passed this year, it won't be because of Barack Obama. It will be because of Frumin. His rulings could make or break the entire bill.

It's a tough, even mythical thing to do, to find middle ground for both environmental and business interests in one fell swoop. But both groups seem to be approving a move made late last night by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. Addressing issues of collapsing fisheries and the decline of ocean health that is leading to and being caused by climate change, Locke made a sweeping move to limit the expansion of commercial fishing in U.S. waters in the north Pacific. Set to go into effect as soon as next year, the plan would halt increased industrial fishing over a 200,000-square-mile area in the icy waters of the Beaufort Sea as scientists can further research local species like Arctic cod and snow crab currently over sought by commercial vessels.

Issues of commercial fishing often come with intense economic undertones. Demand for scaled creatures currently stands at a worldwide high, especially for the species that humans eat most, like Atlantic cod and Bluefin tuna. But populations of both have hit near rock bottom over the past decade as loose fishing regulations have led to a virtual emptying of the seas. The situation paints the north Pacific in a unique and lucrative light: as permanent sea ice melts as an effect of climate change, waters that had formerly been locked up would now become open for business.

Locke, essentially, said no.