Posted on 05/23/2018 9:43:14 AM PDT by gattaca
Trump Opens Door to Dangerous Fracking in Northern Arizona A new Trump administration plan proposes to auction off 4,200 acres of public land for oil and gas development in northern Arizona. The lands straddle the Little Colorado River, are within three miles of Petrified Forest National Park, and are near habitat for a federally threatened fish called the Little Colorado spinedace. Drilling and fracking would threaten to deplete and pollute groundwater in the Little Colorado River Basin.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning the September auction—which would convey development rights to fossil-fuel companies—without any site-specific public or environmental review, as required by federal law. Planning documents cite Trump policies that forego National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis to fast-track fracking on public lands. According to BLM, about 90 percent of new oil and gas wells on public lands are fracked.
"This dangerous plan puts national parks, precious groundwater and wildlife in the crosshairs. We'll do everything we can to stop it," said Taylor McKinnon with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Fracking is a dirty, dangerous business that consumes enormous amounts of water and threatens wildlife and public health. Northern Arizonans won't tolerate public lands being sacrificed as gifts from Trump to the fossil fuel industry."
The BLM is using a shortcut to bypass the analysis of fracking's harm to the land and water that is required under NEPA. The sweeping "determinations of NEPA adequacy," or DNAs, presume that oil and gas development complies with the agency's 30-year-old resource management plan, which predates the U.S. fracking boom. The agency is also foregoing tribal consultations, stating that "tribal consultation was adequate for the [resource management plan]." By deferring all analysis until the drilling-permit stage—after industry has the right to develop the land—the bureau is unable to deny subsequent drilling plans.
"Fracking or drilling development could be catastrophic for the region's groundwater," said McKinnon. "This is Trump's energy dominance policy at work, where nothing matters except fossil-fuel interests."
Trump policies issued in January require the BLM to auction lands nominated by the fracking industry, skip site-specific environmental review and limit public input. BLM records show that since 2014 the fracking industry requested 145 parcels in northern Arizona for oil and gas leasing, most near the Hurricane Cliffs and Big Valley north of Grand Canyon National Park.
The Center for Biological Diversity has sued the BLM for using DNAs to plan oil and gas auctions in Ohio and Colorado...
If the ground water is “depleted and poluted”, how can it be threatened? Are they now trying to save depleted and poluted sights?
Freaking over fracking.
As soon as it appeared to be Capitalistic ‘gold’, the Left went postal.
The next day they were all fracked up!
Nobody else was.
Too bad for them, the rest of the nation went forward to produce products that will fly their leader’s Leer jets.
The rest of them can get people to drive their limos or drive their own mopeds to their destinations.
":^)
New Ford 150s, Chevy Silverados, and Dodge Rams, all tricked out with smilin' drivers, sporting NRA & Trump stickers are all over the place.
Fracking is good, and the envirowhinies can go and frack off.
BUT, I am getting sick of winning...NOT YET.
OMG mother nature is screaming mad!!! No she isn’t, just some greenie weenies are.
This is a fundamental shift in world economic stability and geostrategic alignment. 4000 acres of Arizona scrubland are a very small price to pay. Drill, baby, drill!
+1000 line of the day:
“Isn’t that about the size of Ted Turners driveway?”
Great, this area has been classic left behind country for decades.
Some years ago I posted articles on break-through gasoline formulation, cheaper, cleaner, giving higher mileage and reducing engine wear as well as breakthrough production technology for production from formations too close to the surface for traditional pumping and drilling. Unfortunately the articles were on World Net Daily, which has not maintained its archives. Recently I have starting looking at one of such breakthrough technologies again, a new and improved patent having issued last year. In the meantime the DOE has doubled down on ethanol and it appears that Trump has been misled into falling for the boondoggle of ethanol.
If we frack our gas prices need to come down. Where is our benefit?
“Great, this area has been classic left behind country for decades.”
Excellent. Now it’s time to put the spotted owl on the menu in PAC. NW diners and get the loggers back to work.
Just a fancy made up name because Squaw Fish and Sucker hurt someones feelings once.
I remember when they were still Squaw Fish but we just called ‘en suckers and threw ‘em up on the bank. It was considered good practice to rid the waters of the trash fish so the trout and cats would thrive. Suckers eat the eggs of the good fish.
SS1
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