Bush Giving Away Wilderness to Oil and Gas Industry

[DaveSZ]

http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000114.php

May 10, 2004 | Back Issues « previous | next »
Bush Giving Away Wilderness to Oil and Gas Industry

The White House's rush to lease pristine public lands across the
Rocky Mountains to the oil and gas industry is showing signs of
being little more than a land grab, designed to prevent
protection of hundreds of thousands of acres under the
Wilderness Act.

A recent study of oil and gas drilling activity by The
Wilderness Society found that the gas industry is stockpiling
leases and drilling permits on 34 million acres of public lands
in the Rockies, but is only producing oil or gas on 32 percent
of that land. Over the past 10 years, the industry has received
permission from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to
drill 25,000 new wells, but has only drilled 19,000. Based on
the record pace of drilling over the last few years, it would
take several years to finish drilling the wells that have
already been approved by the BLM.

While some industry representatives and Republican leaders
accuse environmental groups of allegedly causing a slowdown in
gas drilling activity, drilling is currently at its physical
limit: there aren't enough drilling rigs in the Rockies to
satisfy the abundant drilling prospects already made available
to the gas industry. Further, some experts suspect that the gas
industry is sitting on all that land in order to keep gas prices
high -- many firms in the Rockies are posting record profits
while families and businesses struggle to pay their energy
bills.

"If sensitive areas on public lands were the only places left to
drill, the BLM's actions might be explainable," the Denver Post
said in a recent editorial. "But they're not. Energy companies
have plenty of promising places to drill without invading
proposed wildernesses or creating disturbances near parks and
monuments."<1>

-more

[DaveSZ]

1. We didn't even elect this asshole

I hope he burns in hell.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I don't believe i Hell, but I think he will be in Purgatory for quite some

time before he is allowed to move on.

Would Jesus love a aliberal? You bet!
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/liberalchristians.htm

[phantom power]

3. I wonder if people realize how little this helps us

If we just threw up our hands and drilled every possible oil/gas field, and strip-mined the top of every coal-bearing mountain, how long would it all last?

We can either start working out alternatives now, and maybe have some unspoiled wilderness left, or we can end up with no wilderness left at all, and then *still* run out of fossil fuels.

Do people not understand this, or do they just not care?

[DaveSZ]

4. Most people don't know this is going on

If you look at polls, many people (even Repubs) care about the environment.

What I'm hoping is that Kerry if he wins will sign an executive order mandating they return the land to its former state after they drill for oil or gas.

Also I expect him to push for more wilderness protection.

At the very least he can still create national monuments even if the Rethugs in Congress don't go along with him.

[OneBlueSky]

5. don't forget the timber industry . . .

they're gonna get to cut down what's left of our old growth forests . . . if BuchCo manages to stay in power, I wouldn't be surprised to see the remaining redwoods become patio furniture . . .