Group accuses administration of changing drilling rule

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Wed, Nov. 17, 2004

Group accuses administration of changing drilling rule

SUZANNE GAMBOA
Associated Press


WASHINGTON - The Sierra Club alleged in a lawsuit Wednesday that the Bush administration quietly changed a rule so oil and gas producers could more easily drill under national parks from outside their boundaries.The environmental group filed the suit in D.C. District Court asking for an immediate injunction to reverse the alleged rule change, which it said was done without public input. It also asks that the drilling be stopped.
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The Sierra Club alleged that a rule change affects 14 national parks, including four in Texas, that have privately owned minerals beneath them.
"The Bush administration bent over backward to help its friends in the oil and gas industry, even when the facts showed that its policy would harm national parks," said Brandt Mannchen, chairman of the Sierra Club's Lone Star chapter.

Oil and gas producers can drill at an angle to reach privately owned minerals from private land adjacent to a park.Under a 1979 rule, the National Park Service must study such drilling plans and their possible impacts to the park or adjacent land, Mannchen said. Also, the drilling company was required to submit environmental impact analyses.

But the Sierra Club alleges that since late 2001 the National Park Service has been allowing directional drilling without such impact analyses. The environmental studies required of drilling companies also have been reduced, Mannchen said.
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[Carolab]

1. GO SIERRA CLUB!!!

These people are SO effective.

If you DON'T belong yet--you SHOULD

www.sierraclub.com

$25 to join and you get a free expedition pack plus a cool sticker for your window