Judge says road ban applies to oil and gas exploration in forests

AP via SFGate ^ | 11/30/6 | TERENCE CHEA

[Steely Tom]

Good thing we don't need that energy.

[bruinbirdman]

"58.5 million acres of pristine wilderness in 38 states "

It's only pristine if you fly over it in an airplane. Otherwise no one sees it.

yitbos

[Williams]

We literally face wars of extinction that are related to the need for Middle East oil but the leftists are shutting the spigots everywhere. They are strangling us.

[aomagrat]

This is exactly the kind of ruling the people of the US want, or they wouldn't have voted to give control of congress to the democrats.

[devolve]

The Pelican Brief

[airborne]

No it doesn't.

[Always Right]

What is the logic behind this ruling?? That an ex-President's Executive Order overrides the current President's Executive Order. What an idiot.

[potlatch]

Hmmm, I've read quite a few of John Grisham's books can't recall the exact scenario in that one now. I need to look for his latest books.

[ChurtleDawg]

honestly, if you ask people, they would say that this was a good ruling because they instinctively oppose drilling and mining in national forests

but then they will whine and complain that gas prices are too high as well

[crazyhorse691]

I am assuming that it was an executive order by Clinton that set up the protection in the first place. So, now you have the judiciary ruling on a change to an E.O.(or a new EO) and requiring an impact study even though no such impact studies were required in the first EO to setup the protection that the second EO was trying to alter.

[EternalVigilance]

If OPEC ain't paying these yahoos, they should be.

[FLOutdoorsman]

That is debatable. No one on the Repub. side right now is a champion of energy independence. Is there a 5/10 year plan to be off of ME oil? Is the President on TV right now encouraging the private sector to build refineries?

I would hope so. Kinda National Security. At the very least we could give private enterprises huge tax incentives to build new infrastructure and other needs. I just don't see it getting done and it's been a long time since 9/11. Seems like a great issue for the Repubs to run on in 08.

[thackney]

The biggest obstacle to our natural resources is our own government.

[Popman]

Laporte ruled that leaseholders cannot build roads in those areas, but did not rule out other ways to access the land.

What are you supposed to do ? Teleport, via Star Trek

[dufekin]

The Democratic Congress can pass an embargo on foreign petroleum. Price controls will ensure that the oil companies do not profit from the resultant shortages. Distinguished members of Congress, illegal aliens, and professional welfare recipients will get first priority on any available petroleum products. Congress will impose a declining annual quota on the energy use of all other Americans (except seniors) to ensure compliance with the Kyoto Stone Age Restoration Treaty and to reduce gas lines. Various other laws will restrict or forbid new energy exploration and continued production of existing oil and gas wells and coal mines. The military certainly gets last priority on any remaining petroleum products.

That's the Democrats' energy strategy. The Republicans' strategy consists largely of tax subsidies, clock manipulation, and pork-barrel spending. Few Distinguished members of Congress in either House or in either party seriously contemplate the serious issues of our times, and almost none dare propose consideration of any potentially difficult solution; witness the rapid demise of the vaunted Social Security reform plan and the general ambivalence even among Republicans to Islamofascist terrorism.

[devolve]

The plot follows the sudden room temp assumed by several SCOTUS Justices

O'Connor, Ginsberg, and Breyer all want Judges be immune from any criticism in Congress or by American citizens

They lefties become little Stalins/Hitlers in SCOTUS

[potlatch]

lefties become little Stalins/Hitlers in SCOTUS

That's for sure!

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

What are you supposed to do ? Teleport, via Star Trek

You can parachute in, but then you have to walk out or else live there for the rest of your life.

[freedomfiter2]

In that earlier ruling, Laporte said the Bush administration had failed to conduct necessary environmental studies before it replaced the rule in May 2005 with a process that required governors to petition the federal government to protect national forests in their states.

And Clinton conducted real studies before establishing the original rule?