WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior has frozen oil and gas development on 60 of 77 contested drilling sites in Utah, saying the process of leasing the land was rushed and badly flawed.
The 77 government-owned parcels, covering some 100,000 acres in eastern and southern Utah, were leased in the last weeks of the Bush administration. But the leases were immediately challenged by conservation groups, and in January a federal judge blocked drilling on the ground that the Interior Department had failed to follow its own procedures for reviewing the appropriateness of lands designated for oil and gas extraction.
An Interior Department review team then presented Secretary Ken Salazar with a recommendation that drilling be allowed to proceed on 17 of the 77 parcels. But it also said that the leases on eight parcels should be withdrawn and that 52 should be subjected to further study because of potential threats to wildlife and air and water quality.
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The Gov’t obviously is comfortable with sending the money to Wahabist supporting, madrassa funding, so called conservative and they are our friends in the war on terror, mid eastern countries.
mid island mike
Actually, most of the U.S.’s oil, hydro and natural gas comes from Canada.
UV: Canada is the largest single exporter to the USA at just under 2 million BPD, YTD 2009.
Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq, Angola, Russia, Kuwait & UAE export a collective 4.8 million BPD YTD 2009 to the USA.
That is a lot of oil revenue that is going to countries that aren’t especially fond of Uncle Sam. You think if at least 50% of that volume could be sourced within the USA it would be a good thing. Think of the jobs and economic stimulus it would provide. Think how much less money would be getting into the hands of those who hate the west. No we got to protect the spotted farting tree frog. How about the tiny fish in California that are being protected with the result being millions of acres of good farm land are experiencing drought because the farmers can’t access the water.
Good planning. I’m all for green but it has to make sense, be measurable and affordable.
mid island mike
This move sounds more like the old NIMBY story.
It’s mind boggling when you consider California is going bankrupt and has VAAAAST oil and gas reserves just off it’s coast they can’t access because of all the “greenies” that have taken up residency there.
It’s sorta like you’re starving to death and sitting looking at a turkey dinner a few feet away and the boss keeps saying “Down boy! Bad dog!”
Prediction: There will soon come a day when the “dog” is going to ignore “the boss” and go for it. If “the boss” interferes he (or she) is going to lose a vital part of their anatomy because the “dog” has very sharp teeth.