Environmental Studies Waived for Drilling

[phantom power]

October 18,2005 | WASHINGTON -- In an aggressive push by the Bush administration to open more public land to oil and gas production, the Interior Department has quit conducting environmental reviews and seeking comments from local residents every time drilling companies propose new wells.

Field officials have been told to begin looking at issuing permits based on past studies of an entire project, even though some of those assessments may be outdated. The instructions are in a directive from the department's Bureau of Land Management expected to cover hundreds of anticipated new drilling applications.

(...)

The energy bill created new "categorical exclusions" under the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act for allowing new oil, gas and geothermal wells without first conducting environmental studies or soliciting public comment on them. The exclusions from normal permit requirements cover instances when less than 150 acres and no more than five acres in any one spot are disturbed and where nearby drilling has occurred in the past five years.

"We don't think there will be any environmental degradation," Hughes said. "It's basically going into areas where you've already got stuff happening, where you've got existing NEPA work that had been completed. We think in many cases this is just duplicative work."

http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8DAK3S84.html

[Deja Q]

1. I'm all for it.

Poetic karma.

We're already past the point. So let them drill themselves to their own globnal warming roast. We all get the same fate. For once in humanity's miserable existence do we all get fair and equal treatment. And their almighty dollar ultimately cannot save them either. Thank God.

[Angry Girl]

2. They never listened to the environmental reports anyway

So what's really new here aside from the fact that these guys are so bold, they don't even bother to pretend it's a democracy anymore....
Bastards.