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Politics : GOPwinger Lie Debate Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: coug who wrote (309)	3/5/2004 12:15:51 AM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 403

Why don't they just turn the entire west into a giant drilling farm? Stretch of Colo. land becomes battleground Deep beneath the plateau rests 5.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to heat 2.5 million homes for 20 years. Drilling on the plateau for natural gas, which the Bush administration has signaled it favors, would bring jobs and more than $100 million for the local county. So it is supported by some local chambers of commerce and regional government associations. The push to drill here is part of a Western trend. In August, the BLM issued policies designed to remove bureaucratic obstacles to energy development here and in other oil and gas basins in Montana, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. "Natural gas is a major energy need for the country," Interior Secretary Gale Norton said recently in pushing to triple drilling permits in northeastern Wyoming. But local opposition here is surprisingly strong. The town council in Rifle and other communities, hunters and recreational users who treasure the Roan as an unspoiled preserve fear the Bush administration will ignore their concerns when it proposes a plan for the Roan in the next few weeks. "I'm not sure I would be able to find someone who is 100% enthusiastic unless you talk to industry people," Rifle Mayor Keith Lambert says. But he concedes there is "a possibility there could be a good marriage between industry and the interests of the rest of the public" if a middle ground is found that includes less development. The Bush administration's desire to tap the Roan for its energy wealth is a vivid example of the revolution it has brought to the management of hundreds of millions of acres of federal land, most of it in the Western USA. The Republican administration has reversed many of the conservation policies of President Clinton's Democratic administration to side with those who want to expand the commercial use of publicly owned forests, rangeland, parks and water resources. usatoday.com