Federal Gov't to Auction Off Oil Leases

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration will allow oil and gas drilling on Utah lands once reviewed for possible wilderness protection, and environmentalists said Thursday that other areas may follow.

In a lease sale next month, the Bureau of Land Management will auction rights to drill for oil and gas on more than 17,000 acres, mostly in the Book Cliffs region of eastern Utah, that a 1999 review under the Clinton administration had determined could warrant wilderness designation.

The lease auction was made possible by an agreement struck in April between Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to resolve a lawsuit the state had filed against the department.

Leavitt was confirmed this week to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

The settlement, reached in private meetings, rescinded some protection for 2.6 million acres in Utah and potentially millions of additional acres across the West.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-wilderness-drilling,0,5955106.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[kainah]

1. campaign slogan '04

"we rape and pillage at home AND abroad!"

[w4rma]

2. More American resources transferred to the oil oligopolies. (n/t)

[pfitz59]

3. Leavitt's first act as EPA head!

Plunder Utah!

[E_Zapata]

4. wow, they don't even try to mask the cronyism........

Well.....I say every concerned humanitarian who loves the earth should put all of our dimes together and WIN the auction, and NOT DRILL!

Oh.....I guess we can assume they already have chosen WHO will get to do the drilling.

Second idea: EVERY homeless person in this country should go that area and SQUAT...........................

[Democat]

5. Ralph Nader said there was no difference!

I'm sure Gore would have done the exact same thing.

[Dover]

6. This is just the beginning. Water and other resources next.....

This is another step toward dismantling this country, putting power into the hands of a select corporate elite.

I posted an article last week about the Texas Republicans backroom deal of giving away state land leases in West Texas for the pumping of billions of gallons of water to their cronies in the oil industry and others. They did not put this before the public, the legislature or even mention it to local officials whose populations would be left, literally, high and dry. I mentioned in the post that this would be the model for the rest of the country. Little did I know how soon this would happen.

These "auctions" were planned and leaked out while Bush was running for president and everyone was shocked that public lands were being considered up for grabs to the highest bidders. Of course there are very few entities in a financial position to win such a bid. In the end Bush dismissed it and no one believed he'd ever try it or get away with it if he did. Ha!