Here's the link: http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/releas...2004-11-17a.asp
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 17 , 2004 CONTACT:
Annie E. Strickler (202) 675-2384
NEW DOCUMENTS REVEAL BUSH ADMINISTRATION ALLOWED DRILLING UNDER NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AREAS
Rules Made in Secret Would Affect More Than a Dozen Park Service Areas
Washington, D.C. – The Sierra Club today released documents showing that the Bush administration gave special treatment to Texas-based Davis Brothers Oil Producers, Inc., when it reversed a longstanding policy in order to allow oil and gas drilling underneath certain national parks, preserves and refuges regardless of potential environmental impacts. More than a dozen National Park Service areas could be impacted by the rule, including Big Thicket National Preserve and Padre Island National Seashore in Texas, New River Gorge in West Virginia, and Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida.
Documents obtained by Sierra Club through the Freedom of Information Act show that the Bush administration changed the rule specifically at the request of Ross Davis, who runs Davis Brothers Oil Producers. Moreover, the administration made its decision in secret and bypassed the regular rulemaking process, which allows for public input and a high degree of transparency.
“These documents show that the Bush administration bent over backwards to help its friends in the oil and gas industry even when the facts showed that its policy would harm national parks," said Brandt Mannchen of the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter, who has been tracking drilling problems around Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas. "This administration seems to think there are two sets of rules, one for oil and gas companies and one for everyone else."
In an effort to right the wrong, the Sierra Club today took legal action to overturn this new rule, asserting that the Bush administration broke the law by cutting the public out of a back-door process of adopting a new rule. The group filed a complaint in federal district court arguing that the Bush administration adopted the new rule in blatant disregard of its obligations to protect America’s National Parks.
In November 2003, the NPS issued a new policy that allows private companies unrestricted access to oil and gas underneath NPS units so long as they drill for it at an angle from outside park boundaries using "directional drilling." This new rule ties the National Park Service’s hands, forcing them to turn a blind eye to the destruction that may occur around the Park Service areas as a result of the drilling. Prior to the new rule, the National Park Service required oil and gas companies to prove that proposed drilling would not harm the National Park Service unit.
“The Bush administration broke the law. Now they must reinstate the Park Service’s authority to require full environmental review and approval of oil and gas companies’ drilling operations adjacent to park boundaries,” said Pat Gallagher, Sierra Club legal director.
Private oil and gas development is generally prohibited within the National Park system. However, more than a dozen specific areas are unique in that the Park Service only owns the surface rights, while private entities hold title to the subsurface minerals.
Areas that are affected by the new rule include:
Big Cypress National Preserve – Florida
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve -- Kansas
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area -- Kentucky
Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve -- Louisiana
Aztec Ruins National Monument -- New Mexico
Cuyahoga Valley National Park -- Ohio
Obed Wild and Scenic River -- Tennessee
Big Thicket National Preserve -- Texas
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument -- Texas
Lake Meredith National Recreation Area -- Texas
Padre Island National Seashore -- Texas
Gauley River National Recreation Area -- West Virginia
New River Gorge National River -- West Virginia.
For a copy of documents pertaining to the case, please contact Annie Strickler at (202) 675-2384 or Eric Antebi at (415) 977-5747.
Full Version: BUSH ADMINISTRATION ALLOWED DRILLING
Common Ground Common Sense > Issues that Affect Our Lives > Energy Independence, Environment, Science and Technology > Energy, Environment, Science and Technology Issues Archive
And how much money did Ross Davis contribute to the Republican Party this year and last?
Thanks for posting the story, but I am not surpirsed at all.
Have you read "Stupid White Men" ?
<_<
Have you read "Stupid White Men" ?
<_<
According to OpenSecrets.org (Center for Responsive Politics)
Ross Davis's wife contributed $2000 to the Bush campaign.
Ross Davis's wife contributed $2000 to the Bush campaign.
I guess you saw this today:
(I hope they have enough legal power to fight it!)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/18/...g.ap/index.html
Sierra Club: Administration changed drilling rule
Thursday, November 18, 2004 Posted: 8:42 AM EST (1342 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Sierra Club alleges in a lawsuit that the Bush administration changed a rule so oil and gas producers could more easily drill under national parks from outside their boundaries.
The environmental group alleges in the suit filed Wednesday that the change affects 14 national parks that have privately owned minerals beneath them.
The suit asks the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia for an immediate injunction to reverse the change it alleges, which it said was done without public input, and also to drop drilling.
The National Park Service denied the allegation.
"That is so untrue. There has been no change from the Bush administration, from the Clinton administration," said Carol McCoy, a Denver-based National Parks Service spokeswoman. "Nothing has been done outside the public process."
Oil and gas producers can drill at an angle to reach privately owned minerals from private land adjacent to a park.
Under a 1979 rule, the National Park Service must study such drilling plans and their possible impacts to the park or adjacent land.
Drilling companies are required to submit environmental impact analyses.
The Sierra Club alleged that since late 2001 the National Park Service has been allowing directional drilling without such impact analyses. The environmental studies required of drilling companies also have been reduced, the group said.
The Sierra Club said the drilling or its equipment could cause problems with air and water pollution or noise problems. It also said trucks that travel on roads near the park could be an issue.
The group also is concerned about what damage any accidents, such as well blowouts, might cause.
(I hope they have enough legal power to fight it!)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/18/...g.ap/index.html
Sierra Club: Administration changed drilling rule
Thursday, November 18, 2004 Posted: 8:42 AM EST (1342 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Sierra Club alleges in a lawsuit that the Bush administration changed a rule so oil and gas producers could more easily drill under national parks from outside their boundaries.
The environmental group alleges in the suit filed Wednesday that the change affects 14 national parks that have privately owned minerals beneath them.
The suit asks the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia for an immediate injunction to reverse the change it alleges, which it said was done without public input, and also to drop drilling.
The National Park Service denied the allegation.
"That is so untrue. There has been no change from the Bush administration, from the Clinton administration," said Carol McCoy, a Denver-based National Parks Service spokeswoman. "Nothing has been done outside the public process."
Oil and gas producers can drill at an angle to reach privately owned minerals from private land adjacent to a park.
Under a 1979 rule, the National Park Service must study such drilling plans and their possible impacts to the park or adjacent land.
Drilling companies are required to submit environmental impact analyses.
The Sierra Club alleged that since late 2001 the National Park Service has been allowing directional drilling without such impact analyses. The environmental studies required of drilling companies also have been reduced, the group said.
The Sierra Club said the drilling or its equipment could cause problems with air and water pollution or noise problems. It also said trucks that travel on roads near the park could be an issue.
The group also is concerned about what damage any accidents, such as well blowouts, might cause.
QUOTE(CrowNotAngelGRL @ Nov 18 2004, 01:30 PM)
Here's the link: http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/releas...2004-11-17a.asp
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 17 , 2004 CONTACT:
Annie E. Strickler (202) 675-2384
NEW DOCUMENTS REVEAL BUSH ADMINISTRATION ALLOWED DRILLING UNDER NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AREAS
Rules Made in Secret Would Affect More Than a Dozen Park Service Areas
Washington, D.C. – The Sierra Club today released documents showing that the Bush administration gave special treatment to Texas-based Davis Brothers Oil Producers, Inc., when it reversed a longstanding policy in order to allow oil and gas drilling underneath certain national parks, preserves and refuges regardless of potential environmental impacts. More than a dozen National Park Service areas could be impacted by the rule, including Big Thicket National Preserve and Padre Island National Seashore in Texas, New River Gorge in West Virginia, and Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida.
Documents obtained by Sierra Club through the Freedom of Information Act show that the Bush administration changed the rule specifically at the request of Ross Davis, who runs Davis Brothers Oil Producers. Moreover, the administration made its decision in secret and bypassed the regular rulemaking process, which allows for public input and a high degree of transparency.
“These documents show that the Bush administration bent over backwards to help its friends in the oil and gas industry even when the facts showed that its policy would harm national parks," said Brandt Mannchen of the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter, who has been tracking drilling problems around Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas. "This administration seems to think there are two sets of rules, one for oil and gas companies and one for everyone else."
In an effort to right the wrong, the Sierra Club today took legal action to overturn this new rule, asserting that the Bush administration broke the law by cutting the public out of a back-door process of adopting a new rule. The group filed a complaint in federal district court arguing that the Bush administration adopted the new rule in blatant disregard of its obligations to protect America’s National Parks.
In November 2003, the NPS issued a new policy that allows private companies unrestricted access to oil and gas underneath NPS units so long as they drill for it at an angle from outside park boundaries using "directional drilling." This new rule ties the National Park Service’s hands, forcing them to turn a blind eye to the destruction that may occur around the Park Service areas as a result of the drilling. Prior to the new rule, the National Park Service required oil and gas companies to prove that proposed drilling would not harm the National Park Service unit.
“The Bush administration broke the law. Now they must reinstate the Park Service’s authority to require full environmental review and approval of oil and gas companies’ drilling operations adjacent to park boundaries,” said Pat Gallagher, Sierra Club legal director.
Private oil and gas development is generally prohibited within the National Park system. However, more than a dozen specific areas are unique in that the Park Service only owns the surface rights, while private entities hold title to the subsurface minerals.
Areas that are affected by the new rule include:
Big Cypress National Preserve – Florida
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve -- Kansas
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area -- Kentucky
Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve -- Louisiana
Aztec Ruins National Monument -- New Mexico
Cuyahoga Valley National Park -- Ohio
Obed Wild and Scenic River -- Tennessee
Big Thicket National Preserve -- Texas
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument -- Texas
Lake Meredith National Recreation Area -- Texas
Padre Island National Seashore -- Texas
Gauley River National Recreation Area -- West Virginia
New River Gorge National River -- West Virginia.
For a copy of documents pertaining to the case, please contact Annie Strickler at (202) 675-2384 or Eric Antebi at (415) 977-5747.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 17 , 2004 CONTACT:
Annie E. Strickler (202) 675-2384
NEW DOCUMENTS REVEAL BUSH ADMINISTRATION ALLOWED DRILLING UNDER NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AREAS
Rules Made in Secret Would Affect More Than a Dozen Park Service Areas
Washington, D.C. – The Sierra Club today released documents showing that the Bush administration gave special treatment to Texas-based Davis Brothers Oil Producers, Inc., when it reversed a longstanding policy in order to allow oil and gas drilling underneath certain national parks, preserves and refuges regardless of potential environmental impacts. More than a dozen National Park Service areas could be impacted by the rule, including Big Thicket National Preserve and Padre Island National Seashore in Texas, New River Gorge in West Virginia, and Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida.
Documents obtained by Sierra Club through the Freedom of Information Act show that the Bush administration changed the rule specifically at the request of Ross Davis, who runs Davis Brothers Oil Producers. Moreover, the administration made its decision in secret and bypassed the regular rulemaking process, which allows for public input and a high degree of transparency.
“These documents show that the Bush administration bent over backwards to help its friends in the oil and gas industry even when the facts showed that its policy would harm national parks," said Brandt Mannchen of the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter, who has been tracking drilling problems around Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas. "This administration seems to think there are two sets of rules, one for oil and gas companies and one for everyone else."
In an effort to right the wrong, the Sierra Club today took legal action to overturn this new rule, asserting that the Bush administration broke the law by cutting the public out of a back-door process of adopting a new rule. The group filed a complaint in federal district court arguing that the Bush administration adopted the new rule in blatant disregard of its obligations to protect America’s National Parks.
In November 2003, the NPS issued a new policy that allows private companies unrestricted access to oil and gas underneath NPS units so long as they drill for it at an angle from outside park boundaries using "directional drilling." This new rule ties the National Park Service’s hands, forcing them to turn a blind eye to the destruction that may occur around the Park Service areas as a result of the drilling. Prior to the new rule, the National Park Service required oil and gas companies to prove that proposed drilling would not harm the National Park Service unit.
“The Bush administration broke the law. Now they must reinstate the Park Service’s authority to require full environmental review and approval of oil and gas companies’ drilling operations adjacent to park boundaries,” said Pat Gallagher, Sierra Club legal director.
Private oil and gas development is generally prohibited within the National Park system. However, more than a dozen specific areas are unique in that the Park Service only owns the surface rights, while private entities hold title to the subsurface minerals.
Areas that are affected by the new rule include:
Big Cypress National Preserve – Florida
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve -- Kansas
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area -- Kentucky
Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve -- Louisiana
Aztec Ruins National Monument -- New Mexico
Cuyahoga Valley National Park -- Ohio
Obed Wild and Scenic River -- Tennessee
Big Thicket National Preserve -- Texas
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument -- Texas
Lake Meredith National Recreation Area -- Texas
Padre Island National Seashore -- Texas
Gauley River National Recreation Area -- West Virginia
New River Gorge National River -- West Virginia.
For a copy of documents pertaining to the case, please contact Annie Strickler at (202) 675-2384 or Eric Antebi at (415) 977-5747.
If God truly does exist, I'm glad not to have to be in the shoes of the evangelical christians who will have to one day answer to their God why they supported someone who destroyed the beautiful earth he gave us in order to profit financially. These zealots are without morals.
Another point to consider is that by allowing slant drilling to obtain the oil and gas deposits under public lands, the oil company is STEALING assets belonging to the American public. More thefts from America by Bush's friends. 
Part of an article at:
Pomona College Program in Environmental Analysis
News, Reviews, and Commentary
http://ea.pomona.edu/contacts.html
http://ea.pomona.edu/sitemap.html
Big Oil and the California Coast: Leading up to the Great 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill
Hal Tyler, '06
.................
When the legislature finally banned further offshore leasing in 1929, about 350 offshore wells had been drilled and were allowed to continue in operation. Drilling onshore was still legal, so with new techniques of slant drilling, oil companies were able to discretely and illegally drill under the ocean. Many cities were appalled by the devastation caused by oil drilling and attempted to control of ban drilling. Redondo Beach, lying at the edge of the third largest oil field in North America, banned drilling onshore and offshore in 1935. This prohibition held until 1955 when the demand for oil became too great. Seal Beach followed, banning offshore and onshore drilling. The tug-of-war between economic growth and environmental ambience was intense. In 1931, for example, the State lifted the 1929 ban on new tidelands leasing and authorized offshore drilling permits. California citizens, however, overruled the State in a popular referendum, and turned down two initiatives that would have legalized slant drilling under the ocean and new offshore drilling.
Then, after three years of bargaining with industry, "citizen concerns-be-damned", the State Legislature passed the Lands Act of 1938 and created the State Lands Commission to take charge of coastal leasing and supervision. The State was back in business again. The Commission could grant leases to exploit offshore oil only through on-land slant drilling and for wells set up on artificial islands. No new piers or new drilling from existing piers were allowed. Leases were awarded in competitive bidding. Royalties were on a sliding scale based upon rate of production. Some were ridiculously low. Standard oil paid one royalty for $500,000 that outside observers termed a "sellout" on the part of the state. Five million dollars would have been more appropriate in this case, they claimed.
By 1940, production from many wells on beaches and piers had peaked. The oil industry left a coastal junkyard; remains of piers, wells, and other industrial trash were left for state taxpayers to clean up. At the time, there were still no laws or rules against trashing the ocean bottom. Hundreds of I-beams, relics of wood and pipe pilings, steel caissons, wellheads, sheet metal scraps, steel plates, rebar, cable, and pipe segments littered the sea floor from Santa Barbara to Long Beach...................
Part of an article at:
Pomona College Program in Environmental Analysis
News, Reviews, and Commentary
http://ea.pomona.edu/contacts.html
http://ea.pomona.edu/sitemap.html
Big Oil and the California Coast: Leading up to the Great 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill
Hal Tyler, '06
.................
When the legislature finally banned further offshore leasing in 1929, about 350 offshore wells had been drilled and were allowed to continue in operation. Drilling onshore was still legal, so with new techniques of slant drilling, oil companies were able to discretely and illegally drill under the ocean. Many cities were appalled by the devastation caused by oil drilling and attempted to control of ban drilling. Redondo Beach, lying at the edge of the third largest oil field in North America, banned drilling onshore and offshore in 1935. This prohibition held until 1955 when the demand for oil became too great. Seal Beach followed, banning offshore and onshore drilling. The tug-of-war between economic growth and environmental ambience was intense. In 1931, for example, the State lifted the 1929 ban on new tidelands leasing and authorized offshore drilling permits. California citizens, however, overruled the State in a popular referendum, and turned down two initiatives that would have legalized slant drilling under the ocean and new offshore drilling.
Then, after three years of bargaining with industry, "citizen concerns-be-damned", the State Legislature passed the Lands Act of 1938 and created the State Lands Commission to take charge of coastal leasing and supervision. The State was back in business again. The Commission could grant leases to exploit offshore oil only through on-land slant drilling and for wells set up on artificial islands. No new piers or new drilling from existing piers were allowed. Leases were awarded in competitive bidding. Royalties were on a sliding scale based upon rate of production. Some were ridiculously low. Standard oil paid one royalty for $500,000 that outside observers termed a "sellout" on the part of the state. Five million dollars would have been more appropriate in this case, they claimed.
By 1940, production from many wells on beaches and piers had peaked. The oil industry left a coastal junkyard; remains of piers, wells, and other industrial trash were left for state taxpayers to clean up. At the time, there were still no laws or rules against trashing the ocean bottom. Hundreds of I-beams, relics of wood and pipe pilings, steel caissons, wellheads, sheet metal scraps, steel plates, rebar, cable, and pipe segments littered the sea floor from Santa Barbara to Long Beach...................
Bush is going to damage the Environment for another four years. No question about it. His idea of "good stewardship" of the land is to do secret deals that we find out about after the fact. Has anyone noticed the Orwellian language used to hide the true intent of his environmental measures? It would be hilarious if they weren't so damaging. "Clear Skies" = pollute without fear. Healthy Forests = Giveaway to the Timber Industry. It's just maddening that the public doesn't see through this shameful man.
QUOTE(Duckie48 @ Nov 21 2004, 12:22 AM)
Bush is going to damage the Environment for another four years. No question about it. His idea of "good stewardship" of the land is to do secret deals that we find out about after the fact. Has anyone noticed the Orwellian language used to hide the true intent of his environmental measures? It would be hilarious if they weren't so damaging. "Clear Skies" = pollute without fear. Healthy Forests = Giveaway to the Timber Industry. It's just maddening that the public doesn't see through this shameful man.
Yes! I agree, it is maddening!! I'm afraid people won't wake up until it's too late!!!
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