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Forests targeted for more drilling
House energy bill strips a safeguard
Denver Post Washington Bureau
Friday, August 03, 2001 - WASHINGTON - When the House approved drilling in
Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge this week, it also opened the door
to more drilling in the Rocky Mountains. The bill includes several measures
that would encourage more drilling, including a little-known but pivotal one
that strips forest supervisors of their authority to block drilling in
national forests. Conservationists say that paves the way for more oil and
gas wells in forests in the Rocky Mountains, where the so-called "Forest
Service veto" has caused the most controversy. But the Democrats who control
the Senate warned Thursday that they will be charting a far different course
in their energy legislation, one that doesn't include drilling in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge or lifting environmental protections from public
lands. "I don't think that's going anywhere in the Senate," said Sen. Ron
Wyden, D-Ore. Conservationists fear that the House legislation approved
Wednesday could reverse a controversial decision in Montana by then Forest
Supervisor Gloria Flora to nix oil and gas development in the Lewis and Clark
National Forest, saying that it would ruin the forest's "sense of place." In
Colorado, conservationists say it could frustrate their efforts to keep more
rigs out of the HD Mountain Roadless Area between Durango and Pagosa Springs,
which includes the last pockets of old-growth ponderosa pine in the San Juan
range. Earlier this year, the Forest Service used its veto to block drilling
on five leases in the area offered by the Bureau of Land Management, which
manages oil and gas under the national forests. "The local district ranger
knows a lot more about the resources on the ground than a political appointee
in Washington, D.C." said Mark Pearson of the San Juan Citizen Alliance, an
environmental group in Durango. Conservationists are especially concerned
because the House plan would give the authority to the Agriculture Department
undersecretary for natural resources and President Bush has chosen former
timber lobbyist Mark Rey for that post. But industry representatives say that
local forest supervisors treat their forests as "fiefdoms," blocking oil and
gas drillers. "They manage those areas with little concern for how federal
lands fit into the national picture, and in particular energy development,"
said Marc Smith, executive director of the Denver-based Independent Petroleum
Association of the Mountain States. The language in the House bill was
crafted by U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colorado, who softened an earlier
proposal that would have turned all decisions over to the pro-mining Bureau
of Land Management. "That goes a little too far," said McInnis, chairman of
the House forest subcommittee. But he said he was concerned that low-level
Forest Service employees were allowed to block drilling projects. The House
plan would also: Require the Interior Department and the Forest Service to
study "impediments" to oil and gas production on public lands, such as BLM
lands, national forests and national monuments, and figure out how to remove
unnecessary ones. Increase the profitability of many wells by reducing the
royalties paid to the government. Even if the Senate does not include those
proposals in its bill, they won't be dead. A joint conference committee will
be named to work out the differences in the two plans.
"Never cease in the fight for peace, justice, and equality for all people. Be
perisitent in all that you do and don't allow anyone to sway you from your
conscience.".....Leonard Peltier
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