"This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world. States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
- U.S. President G. W. Bush
01.29.2002
- by KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
New York Times
04.19.2002
WASHINGTON, April 18 - The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska was not the only place where the Bush administration was hoping to find more oil. It is also encouraging drilling at more than 50 new sites in the lower 48 states, particularly in the Rocky Mountains.
The energy bill passed last year by the House includes a provision directing the administration to make it easier for oil and gas companies to obtain federal leases and permits to drill for oil and gas. That version will have to be reconciled with the Senate's.
The Bureau of Land Management is considering dozens of projects across the West. In addition, President Bush set up a task force last May to examine how to streamline the permit and leasing process. In doing so, Mr. Bush said that the "increased production and transmission of energy in a safe and environmentally sound manner is essential to the well-being of the American people."
The Task Force on Energy Project Streamlining, headed by James L. Connaughton, chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality at the White House, has collected numerous requests and comments from the industry, including applications for expanded off-shore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and new pipeline, nuclear, hydropower and refinery projects.
"We believe by that by improving the process of issuing these permits, you are more likely to get more energy development in the long run," one administration official said.
Environmentalists are already bracing for what they predict will be a battle every bit as contentious as that over drilling in Alaska. Today, the Sierra Club filed a complaint in Federal District Court in Corpus Christi, Tex., seeking to block a gas drilling operation on Padre Island National Seashore, the first oil or gas well to be drilled in a national park during the Bush administration.
Liz Howell, an organizer for the Wyoming chapter of the Sierra Club, said applications for drilling permits and leases were pouring into her state.
"The state has said it is open for business," Ms. Howell said, noting that the Bureau of Land Management had just put out for comment its draft environmental plan for more than 51,000 coal-bed methane gas wells in Wyoming, the largest natural-gas project ever studied by the bureau.
The plans have stirred opposition not only from environmentalists but also from ranchers. The latter are often allied with the drilling industry but in this case they have filed suits contending that the drilling would damage their wells and land.
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