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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Orcastraiter who wrote (65047)	8/6/2005 4:55:53 PM
From: Skywatcher	Respond to of 81568

Then there's the issue of our wilderness...BUSH DON"T GIVE A CRAP Drilling Rule Makes Some Mitigation Optional The Associated Press Friday 05 August 2005 Federal land agency's decision has environmentalists upset. Roads leading to gas drilling rigs can be seen atop the Roan Plateau near Parachute, CO. The state has expressed concerns with the Bush administration's stand on mitigating drilling impacts. (Photo: Ed Andrieski / AP) Glenwood Springs, CO - With drilling rigs sprouting across the Rockies, federal land managers have quietly instituted a policy that environmentalists fear will let companies off the hook when it comes to restoring land damaged by oil and gas development. The Bureau of Land Management in February decided offsite improvements meant to compensate for well-site damage are optional. BLM officials say they can still withhold drilling permits if companies balk at mitigation work, but critics say the change symbolizes the Bush administration's push for more and faster domestic energy production. "There's no excuse to so completely destroy a site that you need offsite mitigation," said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie, Wyo. "(But) if offsite mitigation is going to be an outcome, then it should be required." The Rockies have become ground zero in the rush to find new domestic sources of natural gas, oil and coal-bed methane. Industry experts say Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico have vast stores of energy waiting to be tapped and the BLM has been swamped for several years now with permits to drill. The BLM's decision doesn't apply when endangered species or national historic sites are part of a potential drilling site. Carrot and Stick Vowed Jamie Connell, manager of the BLM field office in Glenwood Springs, said the agency can negotiate with companies and require follow-through if mitigation work is part of the project. "I have the carrot and the stick," Connell said. EnCana Oil and Gas USA, one of the largest natural gas producers in Wyoming and Colorado, will consider offsite mitigation even though it is voluntary, said Eric Marsh, a vice president and the company's business unit leader in the southern Rockies. "We think it's a win-win," Marsh said. Bob Elderkin, a retired Bureau of Land Management employee, is pictured at a gas well site near Rifle, CO. (Photo: Ed Andrieski / AP) Others believe the BLM's decision formalizes a strategy used by companies to avoid strict environmental standards at the well site. "It's just one more thing to streamline gas production and remove any roadblocks and reduce costs," said Bob Elderkin, a retired BLM employee in western Colorado. While with BLM, Elderkin said, he proposed requiring offsite improvements to make up for roads, traffic and other developments tied to new wells. One idea was burning pinon and juniper trees, and planting sagebrush and native grasses to open up more wildlife habitat. "I sold it to my boss and they said, "Go,'" he said. Offsite up to Company Now, however, the BLM can impose onsite restrictions but can make offsite improvements part of the drilling permit only if the company offers. The guidelines will be reviewed before becoming permanent. Offsite improvements were never mandatory, although a few BLM offices were starting to require them, said Kermit Witherbee, deputy chief of the BLM's mineral fluids division in Washington. "There was a little bit of interpretation about what we can and can't do," Witherbee said. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has asked what the new policy means for the Roan Plateau, a mineral-rich landmark in western Colorado the BLM plans to start leasing for oil and gas drilling. Last spring, the division said making offsite mitigation optional appeared to conflict with the BLM's plans for minimizing the effects of development. Fewer Inspections A recent report by the Government Accountability Office found the BLM's environmental inspections dropped as oil and gas drilling permits more than tripled from 1999 to 2004. About 97 percent of those permits were issued in the Rockies. Offsite mitigation is one option for protecting the environment and losing it would further tip the scale in the industry's favor, said Steve Smith of the regional office of The Wilderness Society. He questioned whether companies will voluntarily make offsite improvements and whether BLM will use its broad discretion to ensure companies protect the environment. Elderkin, who worked on offsite mitigation while with BLM, is having second thoughts about its effectiveness. "I had no idea how widespread this drilling would be," he said.

To: Orcastraiter who wrote (65047)	8/6/2005 11:31:47 PM
From: Skywatcher	Respond to of 81568

THE PROTESTS ARE GONNA GROW...AND BUSH IS GONNA GO! Soldier's mom protests near Bush's ranch Saturday, August 6, 2005; Posted: 8:57 p.m. EDT (00:57 GMT) CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- The angry mother of a fallen U.S. soldier staged a protest near President Bush's ranch Saturday, demanding an accounting from Bush of how he has conducted the war in Iraq. Supported by more than 50 demonstrators who chanted, "W. killed her son!" Cindy Sheehan told reporters: "I want to ask the president, 'Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?"' Sheehan, 48, didn't get to see Bush, but did talk about 45 minutes with national security adviser Steve Hadley and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin, who went out to hear her concerns. Appreciative of their attention, yet undaunted, Sheehan said she planned to continue her roadside vigil, except for a few breaks, until she gets to talk to Bush. Her son, Casey, 24, was killed in Sadr City, Iraq, on April 4, 2004. He was an Army specialist, a Humvee mechanic. "They (the advisers) said we are in Iraq because they believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, that the world's a better place with Saddam gone and that we're making the world a safer place with what we're doing over there," Sheehan said in a telephone interview after the meeting. "They were very respectful. They were nice men. I told them Iraq was not a threat to the United States and that now people are dead for nothing. I told them I wouldn't leave until I talked to George Bush." She said Hagin told her, "I want to assure you that he (Bush) really does care." "And I said if he does care, why doesn't he come out and talk to me." Sheehan arrived in Crawford aboard a bus painted red, white and blue and emblazoned with the words, "Impeachment Tour." Sheehan, from Vacaville, California, had been attending a Veterans for Peace convention in Dallas. The bus, trailed by about 20 cars of protesters and reporters, drove at about 15 mph toward Bush's ranch. After several miles, they parked the vehicles and began to march, in stifling heat, farther down the narrow country road. Flanked by miles of pasture, Sheehan spoke with reporters while clutching two photographs, one of her son in uniform, and the other, a baby picture, when he was seven months old. She said she decided to come to Crawford a few days ago after Bush said that fallen U.S. troops had died for a noble cause and that the mission must be completed. "I want to ask the president, `Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?" she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "Last week, you said my son died for a noble cause' and I want to ask him what that noble cause is?" White House spokesman Trent Duffy said response that Bush also wants the troops to return home safely. "Many of the hundreds of families the president has met with know their loved one died for a noble cause and that the best way to honor their sacrifice is to complete the mission," Duffy said. "It is a message the president has heard time and again from those he has met with and comforted. Like all Americans, he wants the troops home as soon as possible." The group marched about a half-mile before local law enforcement officials stopped them at a bend in the road, still four to five miles from the ranch's entrance. Capt. Kenneth Vanek of the McLennan County Sheriff's Office said the group was stopped because some marchers ignored instructions to walk in the ditch beside the road, not on the road. "If they won't cooperate, we won't," Vanek said. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.