Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 11/24/2010 2:21:36 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Environmental groups on Tuesday sought to cancel the December sale of oil and gas leases beneath more than 234 square miles of public lands in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.
In a formal protest letter sent to the Bureau of Land Management, the three groups said the agency had not done enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions from oil field activities.
Any leases sold in the Dec. 9 sale will not be issued until the protest is resolved.
The three environmental groups — Montana Environmental Information Center, Earthworks and WildEarth Guardians — sued the BLM over the same issue last year.
The case was settled when the BLM pledged environmental reviews on suspended leases totaling more than 50 square miles. The agency also said it would conduct more detailed reviews on future lease sales.
The BLM later determined that greenhouse gas emissions from drilling rigs, compressors and other oil field equipment were insignificant and could not be linked directly to climate change.
Jeremy Nichols with WildEarth Guardians said the BLM deserved credit for changing its leasing process to make room for additional environmental review, but it hasn't followed through with ground-level changes.
Nichols and others involved in the protest point out that technology is available to capture emissions from oil field activities such as the venting of methane — a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide.
"There's a disconnect. They know what's out there, they know what can be done," Nichols said. "It's almost like they view this as jumping through the hoops, and jumping through the hoops doesn't do anything to protect the environment and promote the responsible development of oil and gas."
Marc Smith with the Western Energy Alliance, an oil and gas trade association, defended the BLM's findings on greenhouse gas emissions from oil field activity.
"The finding of no significant impact speaks for itself," Smith said. "It begs the question, what is the greater good? Stopping the American economy for an impact you can't measure, or moving ahead with ideas that improve overall power sector emissions, create jobs and reduce reliance on foreign oil?"
Nationwide, the Environmental Protection Agency says oil and gas operations account for about 23 percent of annual U.S. methane emissions and 2 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.
However, the BLM said emissions in Montana would change only slightly if the leases targeted by the environmental groups were developed.
The 50 square miles of leases suspended last year were not included in the upcoming December sale.
The BLM has recommended that the sale of most of those parcels proceed, but a final decision is not expected until after the December sale, said BLM spokesman Greg Albright.
Federal oil and gas lease sales in the Dakotas and Montana totaled a record $75.4 million during fiscal 2009, and parcels in western North Dakota's oil patch accounted for the overwhelming bulk of interest for the sixth straight year.
North Dakota had $74.2 million in leases in fiscal 2009, according to the BLM.
Only two sales were held in fiscal 2010, which ended in September. The sales in November and January fetched more than $30 million, with North Dakota accounting for about $27 million of the total.
With gas hovering around $3 per gallon, and their ideology widely discredited, I am surprised that they are continuing to find the wherewithal to fund their lawsuits.
ping
I would like to know how these scumbags heat their homes and cook their food.
This sort of protest is an example of just one of the non-legislated abuses that holds back US economic development.
Its not just laws and regulators, its the entire left thats holding us back. A small minority, with little effort or cost, can pile up huge cost escalations for any proposed investment. One more reason why there is little real investment in any real industry.
I wish they would all go to Saudi Arabia to protest and leave us alone.
These eco-terrorist groups are robbing our tax dollars for their on enrichment. They need to take a
hike off a short pier and/or return the money they are stealing. I would hope these nitwits are crushed if we ever get control of America again.
That or if cw2 gets here they are not going to last very long.
Man-made global warming is a man-made hoax!!!!!!!!!!!
I long for the day when conservatives are in charge to be able to stamp all requests from ‘environmentalists’ with a big red, DENIED.
It’s because you can’t swing a dead cat on Capitol Hill without hitting an ambulance chaser.
These enviro fascists are massive whack jobs.
Big Green CEOs Earn More Than Climate ‘Deniers’
...For all environmental nonprofits nationwide, Charity Navigator said the median salary for the top executive is $120,000. In other words, the median salary for the top officials with these 15 groups is $96,720 higher than the regional average for all nonprofits.
There's a disconnect alright, but it's between this ecofascist and reality.
I hate to see mineral rights owners in those states lose their royalties, mine (in Texas) might go up a little if the whackos win as nat gas prices could be helped.
But I hope the whackos lose, the hell with the slightly higher royalties. Let’s spread the wealth!
We may live in a rational world, but not everyone is rational, especially big brother.
With the hot air they’re always blowing.
If anyone questions the wisdom of Ayn Rand’s support for seperation of state and economics, imagine a world where the only attention bums like this get is the bird.
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