Oil projects may get less scrutiny - USA TODAY

[Pirate Smile]

When a Denver-based energy company proposed to explore and drill for natural gas in an area rich with ancient Indian art panels, the plan kicked off a rigorous environmental review.

The company, Bill Barrett Corp., spent two years and $1 million to comply with the federal law that requires studying what the drilling would do to the environment. The 1969 environmental law also requires consultations with government agencies, Indian tribes and residents before drilling and exploring can begin.

-snip-
But in the future, companies like Barrett that produce oil and gas in the Rocky Mountain West may not have to undergo that kind of environmental analysis.
A section of the energy bill approved by the House of Representatives last month would exempt many federal energy projects from the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act.

If the Senate passes the bill and the president signs it into law, many oil-and-gas projects will no longer be analyzed for their environmental effects or be open to public comment. Some examples:

more
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050504/ts_usatoday/oilprojectsmaygetlessscrutiny;_ylt=ApOHIR.vZEtxnKJKRF0xgoWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2MTQ3MTFjBHNlYwN0cw--

[Vogon_Glory]

1. Was ANWR Fight A Diversion?

Does anyone else besides me wonder if the fight over drilling in the ANWR may have been a Rove/Cheney/Bush diversion so that the fossil fuel industry could bust into public lands, national monuments, and national parks with their oil derricks and pump jacks?

[leesa]

2. Really? You mean like the oil projects in Iraq and Afghanistan?

[Orsino]

3. This just in: water may get wet. n/t