Last-Ditch Effort To Save Federal Lands From Drilling

Los Angeles Times:

Reporting from Denver -- Environmental groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday as a last-ditch effort to block the sale of leases for 110,000 acres of federal land in Utah that the Bush administration plans to auction off on Friday.

Critics say the proposed lease sales are an 11th-hour attempt by the administration to leave its mark on the striking, energy-rich red-rock landscape of southern and eastern Utah.

The auction was announced late on election day. The National Park Service, which is routinely consulted before such announcements, was taken by surprise. The park service later objected to dozens of the sales, but the Bureau of Land Management moved ahead to sell the majority of them.

Read the whole story: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[springsm]

Why hasn't this been on page one. It has been part of the bush plan to deregulate the planet, starting with the USA. These are public lands are they not? This sociopath creates his future in the dark of night behind closed doors or from the Faux Ranch. People don't know about this. Instead the front page talks about poor Katie and her birthday without the jumping jack clown, talks about the Duggars and their 18th baby ( I can't even go there) and every little nuance about C. Kennedy. THIS selling of lands has been happening all over our country and nobody knows. Do they care. Geez...when will we ever see the end of this man and how many generations will we look at what he has done.

[planetjeffy]

Well, thank the depression/recession - oil companies are canceling projects everywhere. I doubt many will be willing to fork out for new leases, while the price of oil is in the $20 to $0 range over the next 2 - 3 years. They aren't even willing to invest in drilling on the leases they already hold. Drill baby drill will be remembered as a strange phenomenon created by st.upid people.

[PatA]

Think about it, do we believe that Bush has ever been camping, hiking or meditating in a beautiful wild place? Would he care, if he had gone to one of our natural treasures?
No.
He only camps out in $1000 bills.

[subucni 1 1]

It makes you kind of wonder if off shore drilling, ANWAR drilling, and drilling in the midwest is not enough then what is and when will it stop. Its a joke and unfortunately unlike the tree that falls in the woods and no one is around we all hear it but we dont have the benefit of ignoring it. This green revolution is getting farther bogged down by Bushs midnight revisions. Bush said just yesterday about the economy that I dont want to add a economic depression to the list of things Obama has to deal with but he sure is holding his head pretty close to that fire.

[Fyrebyrd]

According to the article, land considered for this project will be UNOCCUPIED and/or have vacant, unused buildings on it. The obssesive-compulsive property rights folks should A) read the article again, also B) think outside your consumerist box and consider the need for all people to fulfill their personal obligation to reduce humanity's carbon footprint on this planet.
I believe the idea of a pedestrian-friendly community is excellent. If one feels that the priviledge of driving one' own car is more important than helping to save the world from the ever-growing global climate crisis, obviously this type of auto-free living style would cramp your mid-20th Century attitude about improving our planet's environment wouldn't work...for you.
But don't be such a dampen-glee about those who truly care about a more healthy world for future generations.

[Bocado]

Bush did this near the end of the election I believe.
He's a sack of s h it and I hope he chokes on a pretzel again and the pretzel wins.

How his daugthers can be proud to have a father like him, I have no idea.
How he can profess to be a Christian is beyond me.
He's corrupt and loves money and power, another religious nutjob.

[springsm]

He is a "reborn Christian" which probably means the fundamentalist conservatives are calling his shots. Destroying all that comes before him is okay then. They do not believe in being enviornmentally sound. Jesus is coming again...and they are safe. You will notice that most of the time the girls are not around him. Sociopath.

[jinxed]

"Buccino said that even if the sale goes forward Friday, companies should be on notice that the auctions may not be legally valid. There has been discussion that the Obama administration, which objects to the sale, could buy back the leases. But Buccino said taxpayer dollars should not have to be spent to undo the deals."
_____________________________________________________________________________

This statement tells me that this is just another scam for big oil to r i p o f f the taxpayer.

[sheila]

oh, you are worried about 110,000 acres? what about the 190 MILLION ACRES the BLM just opened to geothermal? is drilling for steam so environmentally superior to drilling for oil and gas that we are willing to completely kill off our public wilderness?

what about the MILLION acres under the BLM guillotine for Big Wind and Big Solar? is preventing homeowners from profiting from energy produced on their own rooftops SO important to our government that we are willing to slaughter another million acres (with no end in sight, of course, since its one more Big Energy pyramid scheme) and greenwash it?

Big Energy is Big Energy. there is no difference to the loss of fantastic carbon sink (aka the Mojave), if you dynamite, bulldoze, pave, herbicide, drill into aquifers that you will totally deplete, run new roads, burn gas, build out massive, GHG-spewing powerlines, etc. or if you do all that for oil in utah. none. CSP and Big Wind will NOT displace a single ton of coal, they will only displace on-demand natural gas (in part, by burning natural gas in the case of Big Solar!), while emitting enormous net GHGs.

rooftop solar emits NO GHGs, kills NO carbon sinks, destroys NO public wilderness, depletes NO aquifers, burns NO gas, needs NO new roads or transmission and is owned by US. so why are we killing all our wilderness for Big Energy again?

[HowietheScreamer]

Nothing is stopping you from putting a solar panel on your roof, certainly not Uncle Sam. You just have to pay for it.

[sheila]

cool, so that means i DON'T have to pay for Big Energy projects? oh, wait, yes i do. over and over and over. even having an account at a utility means that i will have to pay, along with every other ratepayer, 100% of the cost of Big Energy's mercenary exploits on OUR public lands, even if i produce more power than i use.

you purposely miss the point that if all of our public, ratepayer and taxpayer resources are flowing entirely to Big Energy, then 95% of us cannot enjoy energy independence. that's cool with you? then off to Russia with you, because America is supposed to be about independence, not about scary, centralized infrastructure built on the backs of the working classes, to profit the uber-rich.

[hollybork]

Look at it this way. The Mormon state of Utah is one of the last, stalwart supporters of the failed Bush presidency. They are literally the 8% of the people who will miss George II. So they are getting a big gift from the government, allowing certain individuals to get much richer.

Until the majority of the people in those red states challenge the business interests that selfishly look for opportunities to game the government on federal lands, this will just lead to the despoiling of their own uniquely beautiful wilderness. Mormons need to join with the environmental movement and embrace the democratic party which supports land conservation. But they to date are too easily manipulated with the nonsense of gay marriage, etc, and vote for Republicans whose main goal is to rape and pillage the natural resources they find, where ever and whenever they can do so.

[springsm]

That is how I feel too when I feel petty. If anybody deserves to have what they consider THEIR states' beauty razed and raped, it is the state of Utah. Unfortunately those are public lands and once past the mormon church "we" are the public. Part of me says "okay, they are so behind the fundamentalism of bush and totally support him and his ilk, so let them discover how sick Bush is"..but it also hits us too....and saddens me to see our nation go up for grabs through Mr Bush' selfish little devastating acts.

[easarsfield]

Bush and Cheney are just DETERMINED to give one final parting gift to their oil pals.

I sincerely hope they all end up in jail.

[springsm]

Just remember the name, Nancy Pelosi.