U.S. Interior Department sued over Wyoming drilling

By GottaLaff

Keep shoving ANWR, coastlines, and other potential drilling sites down our throats, BushCo/McCainCo, because it's obvious that the fragile environment will be preserved, just as it has in Wyoming. Ooops:

As President Bush called for increased oil and gas drilling in the Rocky Mountain West and offshore, an environmental group launched a legal battle Wednesday against the Interior Department, saying the agency broke its promise to limit environmental damage from natural gas and oil development on the Pinedale Anticline, one of the country's top reserves. [...] The suit alleges the [Bureau of Land Management], a division of the Interior Department, "failed unequivocally" to comply with its plans to monitor and mitigate the effects of gas and oil drilling on wildlife across the Anticline and violated the National Environmental Policy Act and Federal Land Policy and Management Act.

See how carefully those Tiptoey Drillers tread on pristine land? Those tiny little footprints of Big Oil couldn't hurt a fly! But mule deer and antelope? That's another story:

The Bush administration has highlighted the Anticline, a scrub-land mesa south of Jackson, as a model for oil and gas exploration in the Rocky Mountain West. But massive development of oil and gas fields there has pushed up ozone levels and broken up the habitat of mule deer, pronghorn antelope and sage grouse, according to a study by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and the environmental group that filed suit.

Promises, promises:

"They haven't been following the processes that they put in place that would address impacts to the natural resources of the area and would comply with their obligations under federal law," said Katie McKalip, a spokeswoman for the conservation group.

Here's a thought: Alternative energy sources. I'm sure if BushCo looks hard enough, they could find someone, anyone, with enough expertise on the subjectformerVicePresidentandglobalwarming expertAlGore.

"We really minimize the amount of habitat fragmentation and surface disturbance due to the drilling . . ." Matheny said. "Since then, the deer population stabilized and has started to rebound when we operate this way."

A 2006 report showed the deer population declined 46% since 2000, the suit said. The study was industry-funded and performed by Western EcoSystems Technology Inc.

Al has a few ideas. All BushCo/McCainCo has to do is look him up.