Groups: Public cut from White House task force on streamlining (energy!) [View All]

[Melinda]

GILLETTE -- A Bush administration task force working to speed up oil and gas permitting in the Rockies has been meeting in secret, despite efforts to open the meetings to the public, two groups allege.

The Powder River Basin Resource Council and Natural Resources Defense Council claim that the White House's Rocky Mountain Energy Council is conducting its business in private. It allegedly held a two-day meeting in Denver earlier this month which was closed to the public despite efforts by the media to open the meeting.

The RMEC was set up by the White House Council of Environmental Quality through its Energy Project Streamlining Task Force. Its goal is to smooth out crinkles in the bureaucratic permitting process that can delay access to minerals on public lands in the Rockies.

"The RMEC looks like the latest attempt by the White House to give industry the inside track on energy policy, at the expense of public health and our public lands," said Sharon Buccino, attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a press release Thursday.

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Holy Beejesus, do they EVER quit? Paging Larry Klayman! Larry Klayman answer the white courtesy phone!!