Drilling Expansion Plan to Put Haze Over Great Plains

[Robbien]

<snip>

It is just one of several ways in which the largest expansion of natural gas drilling approved by the federal government is expected to degrade air quality in the region that today has the clearest skies in the lower 48 states. The federal Bureau of Land Management, under pressure from the White House to fast-track energy production, approved the drilling plan two years ago without incorporating any requirements to reduce the resulting air pollution.

Government scientists expect the drilling expansion, combined with a planned increase in coal mining and oil drilling in the northern Great Plains, will nearly double smog-forming emissions and greatly increase particulate matter pollution in a thinly populated region that has produced less than 3 percent of the amount of unhealthful air found in Los Angeles.

The BLM moved forward with the project despite its own air quality analysis, which concluded that the pollution would cloud views at more than a dozen national parks and monuments, exceed federal air quality standards in several communities and cause acid rain to fall on mountain lakes, where it could harm fish and wildlife.

EPA officials wrote in a similar 2002 letter to the BLM: "Monitoring and mitigation are given short shrift." They added that the agency's environmental review did not "adequately link the modeled impacts, which are clearly above regulatory criteria, with what BLM proposes that it would do or it would recommend others do to mitigate impacts."

BLM officials acknowledged they were under orders from Washington to quickly approve the projects, which the Bush administration considered vital to meeting the nation's energy needs.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-westair29jan29,0,7261023.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Geeze, the pollution will be so awful that even the energy giant didn't want to do this and was forced into it. Say goodbye to seeing Mount Rushmore unless you are standing three feet from it.
The rest of the article has many more details.

[Erika]

1. Ah, let the red-states live with Bush's poisoning of their air

in favor of corporatism. They voted for him. May they remember that as their kids choke with asthma and other pollution trigering health ilnesses. They wanted him, they got him. So sad their kids will pay the health price.

[NYC]

3. Consequences.

People don't foresee the consequences of what they do.

[twaddler01]

2. I better get moving...

If I ever want to see anything there I should plan my vacation NOW.

:eyes:

[NVMojo]

4. depressing, especially since I just finished watching "Silver City"

and I live in a greedy Red State that has greedy foreign mining polluters here ...

[Rockerdem]

5. Shrub wont be happy until everyone is equipped with a gas mask

Mandatory. BTW, what Chinese firm are those outsourced to?

[donsu]

6. air moves - people downwind will suffer too

nt

[hickman1937]

7. Polute and plunder,

The work bush was born to do. The real challenge for him is to find out how many places and how fast. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, and he's really good at this.