New BLM Chief Excludes Public from Environmental Decisions

I guess the administration got tired of all the petitions and entreaties to stop exploiting public lands for oil and gas use. The dying throes of the oil dinosaur will shatter some of the last remaining wild areas in the USA. If there is action to be taken to stop this, NRDC will.

I will keep you posted.

WASHINGTON, DC, August 15, 2007 (ENS) – A decision by the new director of the Bureau of Land Management, BLM, means that potentially harmful projects involving oil and gas exploration, logging and grazing on public lands are no longer subject to a key federal law that protects natural resources, says the Natural Resources Defense Council, NRDC. . . .

The NRDC says Caswell's decision clears the way for 60,000 pound "thumper trucks" in search of oil and gas to crash through sensitive areas, creating tire tracks deeper than many streams and destroying crucial wildlife habitat, without environmental review or opportunity for public comment.

Tags: BLM, public lands exploited, oil and gas, stop public comment