Yes this is a BAD bill, IF it does in fact remove the decision making process from the local people.
There's enough land in the west that the Feds own (unconstitutionally I might add) that they can turn around and sell or give to oil companies for refining purposes.
This coupled with all of the other Federal power grabs lately needs to be stopped and stopped NOW.
I believe the plan is to utilize closed military bases.
But I could be wrong.
Bottom line is we need more refineries, more exploration while building a strong nuclear infrastructure. Sorry but the enviros have been too unyielding, too nasty, too immature to offer some compromises.
They didn't and surprise, surprise, we are dependent on a-holes like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela etc. To think that all enviromental standards will be done away with is absolutely silly especially if, in regards to refineries, we actually use former military bases. We need to move away from the gulf setting to a certain extent to avoid hurricane damage. Yes it will increase cost but if the new technolgy to tap into oil shale is also allowed then the midwest will play the best central location (also further from attackable shores).
I'm the first to maintain as much control on the local level as possible but the fact is the libs only proceed to strangle any US energy self-sufficiency. This, I agree, is not optimal but is necessary.
Why?? This is just what the environazis do in the west all the time, only from the other side. What's good for the goose is sauce for the gander.
If the econazis can take "public" land out of the tax base and restrict access to elitists like them--and that is a good thing--why can't the government do something that actually does something for all americans?