Can Bush Leave Soon Enough?
How much damage can the Bush Administration do to Utah's public lands before it leaves office in January? And will the incoming Obama administration be able to change some of the more odious public lands decisions being made now?
Between management plans for BLM lands that favor oil drilling and off-road vehicle interests instead of preservation and new drilling leases issued that could adversely impact special Utah places such as Desolation Canyon and Dinosaur National Monument, recent Utah BLM decisions have been a disaster.
This isn't multiple use of public lands. It's multiple rape with little consideration to long-term consequences to Utah's tourism industry or to conserving some of these resources for the future.
There is little in the way of balance. In its rush to issue drilling permits, the Utah BLM seemed to not even be able to specify where some of the 241 proposed oil and gas parcels are located.
Want to be frightened? Read Patty Henetz's story in Wednesday's Salt Lake Tribune about the opening up of nearly 360,000 more acres of Utah public lands to oil and gas drilling despite a recent report by the Government Accountability Office questioning why the BLM continues to offer so many leases when so few are ever developed.
The answer to that might be that the Bush Administration lackeys within an agency that has been mockingly referred to as "the Bureau of Livestock and Mining" for years must rush to get as many leases as possible issued before a new administration is named.
Those who want more balance can only hope that President Obama picks an environmentally oriented person such as Robert Kennedy, Jr., to head the Department of Interior or a guy like New Mexico's Jim Baca to lead the BLM.
-- Tom Wharton
Between management plans for BLM lands that favor oil drilling and off-road vehicle interests instead of preservation and new drilling leases issued that could adversely impact special Utah places such as Desolation Canyon and Dinosaur National Monument, recent Utah BLM decisions have been a disaster.
This isn't multiple use of public lands. It's multiple rape with little consideration to long-term consequences to Utah's tourism industry or to conserving some of these resources for the future.
There is little in the way of balance. In its rush to issue drilling permits, the Utah BLM seemed to not even be able to specify where some of the 241 proposed oil and gas parcels are located.
Want to be frightened? Read Patty Henetz's story in Wednesday's Salt Lake Tribune about the opening up of nearly 360,000 more acres of Utah public lands to oil and gas drilling despite a recent report by the Government Accountability Office questioning why the BLM continues to offer so many leases when so few are ever developed.
The answer to that might be that the Bush Administration lackeys within an agency that has been mockingly referred to as "the Bureau of Livestock and Mining" for years must rush to get as many leases as possible issued before a new administration is named.
Those who want more balance can only hope that President Obama picks an environmentally oriented person such as Robert Kennedy, Jr., to head the Department of Interior or a guy like New Mexico's Jim Baca to lead the BLM.
-- Tom Wharton
posted by Tom @ 3:02 PM |
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