Drilling Planned in Alaska Oil Reserve(9m acres in NPR-A, not ANWR)

Seems the Bureau of Land Management has a new concept toward environmental rules and regs - they can all be tossed for "economic" reasons - which seems to annoy poor Eleanor Huffines of The Wilderness Society. Welcome to compassionate, moderate Bush, Eleanor!

:-)

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-bizoil-alaska.html

December 13, 2003

Drilling Planned in Alaska Oil Reserve By REUTERS Filed at 7:32 a.m.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Across the western Arctic sprawls an Indiana-sized land mass dotted with lakes, populated by migratory birds and other wildlife, and packed with potential oil riches.

The National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPR-A), wedged between the foothills of the rugged Brooks Range and the icy Arctic coastline, is about 120 miles from the better-known Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).<snip>

The BLM wants to open 8.8 million acres in the reserve's northwestern third to oil development. That plan would replace specific regulations -- like those limiting truck travel over the delicate tundra and restrictions on drilling in rivers and streams --with more general guidelines.<snip>

The BLM may also allow drilling in and around the vast Teskekpuk Lake, which sits near the Arctic coastline and is currently off-limits to development. Until now, its shores were considered too important to birds, caribou and wildlife to allow oil rigs.
Critics say the BLM is caving to companies pushing to cut costs. They point to the specifics of the new rules for the northwest section, such as the allowance for gravel roads and airstrips if they are "necessary to carry out exploration more economically" and drilling in rivers or streams if "it is determined that there is no feasible or prudent alternative. "Every single thing can be waived for economic reasons, which makes it all meaningless," said Eleanor Huffines of The Wilderness Society.<snip>

put a "For Sale" sign on our country.

Bush is trying to show the world he can be as corrupt, because he has just as tight, if not tighter, control of the US Press.

Not legal control -of course - but the real control we see every day is beyond Stalin's dreams!