Air – General Citations

• Since Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1970, Major types of air pollution have dropped by an aggregate of 48%. (EPA 2002 National Air Quality Trends Report, 2003, available at www.epa.gov/airtrends/)
• Power plant pollution causes at least 30,000 deaths from respiratory illness and 600,000 asthma attacks each year. (Clean Air Task Force, “Power to Kill” report, October, 2000 based on data provided by Abt Associates, a consultant to the EPA)
• Power plant pollution contributes to lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke – just like smoking. (Journal of the American Medical Association, March 2002)
• In addition, the American Lung has documents that list a synopsis of studies linking ozone and soot air pollution to asthma and other health issues at: www.lungusa.org/air/pdf/ozone01_rep.pdf (for smog) and www.lungusa.org/air/pdf/pm01_rep.pdf (for soot). They also have the most recent studies on both at: www.lungusa.org/air/pdf/1002_pdf.pdf
  
• The benefit of protecting our health and the environment, particularly reducing air pollution, far outweighs the costs. Environmental rules from the past ten years have generated as much as $230 billion in benefits (such as reduced sickness and lost work time), yet the rules only cost between $36 and $42 billion.

 
Air – Citations (“New Source Review”):

• Settlements reached by EPA since 2000 with power plants, refineries, and other big polluters will reduce soot and smog-forming pollution by almost a million tons a year when fully implemented. Most, if not all, of those settlements would not be possible under the changes the Bush Administration has made to the program. (Environmental Integrity Project, New Source Review Settlements, 2000-2003, updated through September, 2003)
• Between 1999 and 2001 the number of people diagnosed with asthma at some time during their life increased by 25%. In 2001, 144 out of every 1000 children between the ages of five and 17 were diagnosed with asthma. "In 2001, the prevalence rate in blacks was close to 15 percent higher than in whites. Since 1997 the differences in the lifetime asthma prevalence between the races have been statistically significant." (National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey, 1997-2001 as reported by the American Lung Association, "Trends in Asthma Morbidity and Mortality," March, 2003)
• Recent research shows that children with asthma suffer from shortness of breath, coughing and chest tightness even during periods of what the EPA considers to be good air quality. (Janneane F. Gent, et.al., "Association of Low-Level Ozone and Fine Particles with Respiratory Symptoms in Children with Asthma," The Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 290 No. 14, October 8, 2003)

 
Air – Citations (weakening Clean Air Act)

• “The EPA's own numbers say the Clean Air Act left alone will reduce power plant emissions nearly twice as fast as Bush's new proposal.” (Time Magazine, 2/25/02)
• The Bush administration plan will triple the amount of mercury pollution we will be exposed to: Enforcing the current Clean Air Act will cut mercury emissions from powerplants to five tons per year by 2008. Under the Bush administration's “Clear Skies” plan, mercury emissions would decrease to 15 tons per year by 2018. (EPA “Clear Skies” summary document, available at  www.epa.gov/air/clearskies/CSA2003sectionbysection_2_27_03_final.pdf, page 15 (mercury levels under Clear Skies), page 20 (repealing mercury controls under the Clean Air Act) and Dec. 4 presentation by EPA to the Edison Electric Institute (noting mercury levels possible under the Clean Air Act)
• In 2002, 44 states issued fish consumption warnings because of unsafe levels of mercury. Approximately 60,000 newborn infants annually may be at risk for neurodevelopmental effects from in utero exposure to mercury. (U.S. EPA, 2002. Update: National Listing of Fish and Wildlife Advisories. EPA-823-F-02-007. May)
• At high doses, mercury exposure can cause tremors, inability to walk, convulsions - and even death. At levels more commonly seen in the United States, documented mercury exposure effects include more subtle - yet still serious - damage to the senses and brain.
• Women of childbearing age and people who regularly and frequently eat highly contaminated fish (or large amounts of moderately contaminated fish) are the most likely to be at risk from mercury exposure. Those groups include subsistence fishermen and some Native American populations.
• The developing fetus is the most sensitive to the effects of mercury, because its brain is developing rapidly; therefore women of childbearing age are at the greatest risk. Children of women exposed to relatively high levels of methylmercury during pregnancy have exhibited a variety of abnormalities, including delayed onset of walking and talking, cerebral palsy and reduced neurological test scores. (National Academy of Sciences. Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury. 2000)
• Children exposed to far lower levels of methylmercury in the womb have exhibited delays and deficits in learning ability. In addition, children exposed after birth potentially are more sensitive to the toxic effects of methylmercury than adults, because their nervous systems are still developing. (National Academy of Sciences. Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury. 2000)
• Information from EPA Mercury Factsheet, 14 December 2000 , available at: www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t3/fact_sheets/fs_util.pdf
  • The administration plan delays smog reduction rules from 2007 to 2015, subjecting millions of Americans to air pollution for longer than the current Clean Air Act. (Clear Skies Summary Document, pages 18-19, revising sections 107/ 110 of the Clean Air Act)
  • It also delays and weakens a key tool for helping states addressing pollution from “upwind” pollution sources by delaying states’ ability to seek relief from EPA for a decade, and putting a high hurdle in front of them even then. (EPA Summary Document, pages 19-20, revising Sec. 126 of the CAA)
  • The benefit of protecting our health and the environment, particularly reducing air pollution, far outweighs the costs. Environmental rules from the past ten years have generated as much as $230 billion in benefits (such as reduced sickness and lost work time), yet the rules only cost between $36 and $42 billion. (Report by the White House Office of Management and Budget, September 2003)

 
Water - Citations

• An estimated 60 percent of rivers, lakes and coastal waters in the United States are now safe for swimming and fishing - a steady improvement since the Clean Water Act passed in 1972. (US EPA website, accessed 7/18/2003, http://www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring/nationswaters/quality.html#whatis. In its most recent report, Quality of the Nation’s Rivers and Streams (2000), EPA estimates that 61% of rivers, 55% of lakes and 49% of estuaries are safe for fishing and swimming.)
• Despite the progress we've made, 218 million Americans live within ten miles of a polluted lake, river or coastal area. (EPA, Liquid Assets 2000: America’s Water Resources at a Turning Point, May 2000.)
• Americans pay for dirty water. Losses from toxic algae in Maryland and North Carolina since 1995 are estimated at $1 billion. Contamination of Milwaukee's drinking water in 1993 killed 50 people and sickened more than 400,000. A 1995 study of Santa Monica Bay found that one of every 25 who swam near a storm drain contracted gastrointestinal illness or cold or flu symptoms. (EPA, Liquid Assets 2000: America’s Water Resources at a Turning Point, May 2000.)
• There are at least 40,000 sanitary sewer overflows each year that dump raw sewage into our streams, beaches and basements, causing property damage and serious health risks. Every year between 1.8 million and 3.5 million Americans get sick just from swimming in waters contaminated by sewer overflows. (http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/regresult.cfm?program_id=4&view=all&type=3, accessed on October 8, 2003.)
• Small headwater streams make up the majority of our streams. Downgrading their value would put the majority of downstream waters at risk. (US EPA, Literature Review: Extent and Function of Headwater Streams, 2003.)
• According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, “isolated” wetlands perform many vital services, including water storage, groundwater recharge, flood mitigation, nutrient retention and recycling, sediment retention and wildlife habitat. (US Fish and Wildlife Service, “Geographically Isolated Wetlands: A Preliminary Assessment of their Characteristics and Status in Selected Areas of the United States,” June 2002.)

 
Toxic Dump Sites (Superfund) – Citations

• More than 870 sites have been cleaned up since 1980. (US EPA, http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/query/queryhtm/nplccl1.htm, as of October 8, 2003)
• More than 1,200 sites remain on the high-priority cleanup list. (Source: US EPA, http://www.epa.gov/superfund/action/process/numbers.htm,last updated December, 2002)
• The Superfund Trust Fund has run out of money generated by the polluter pays tax, and the program is now largely funded by taxpayers. (“Superfund Program: Current Status and Future Fiscal Challenges.” United States General Accounting Office. Report no. GAO-03-850. Page 3.)
• One in four Americans lives within a short bicycle ride of a Superfund site. (“Superfund Program: Current Status and Future Fiscal Challenges.” United States General Accounting Office. Report no. GAO-03-850. Page 1.)

 
Enforcement – Citations

• Since the Bush administration came into office, the number of criminal pollution cases referred by the EPA for federal prosecution has dropped by 40 percent. Similarly, the number of civil pollution referrals has gone down by 25 percent. As the number of cases referred has declined, so has the number of environmental prosecutions; criminal prosecutions are down by nearly one third and civil prosecutions are more than a quarter lower than they were during the Clinton Administration.
• During the Bush administration's first year in office alone, environmental referrals plummeted. In 2001, cases referred under the Toxic Substance Control Act was down by 80 percent. Cases under the Clean Air and Water Acts were down by 54 and 53 percent, respectively.
• According to the EPA, one-in-four of the nation's largest industrial and municipal waste dischargers is in significant violation of the Clean Water Act at any given time. The EPA took formal enforcement action against only 15% of major Clean Water Act violators between 1999 and 2001. (US EPA, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, A Pilot for Performance Analysis of Selected Components of the National Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Program. February, 2003.)
• Every year since taking office, the Bush administration has requested that the budget for enforcing our nation's environmental laws be slashed. For FY 2004, the Bush administration's request is to cut 100 enforcement positions at EPA. (Bush administration budget submissions to Congress, FY 2002, FY 2003, FY 2004)
• The benefit of protecting our health and the environment, particularly reducing air pollution, far outweighs the costs. Environmental rules from the past ten years have generated as much as $230 billion in benefits (such as reduced sickness and lost work time), yet the rules only cost between $36 and $42 billion. (White House Office of Management and Budget, 2003 Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations and Unfunded Mandates on State, Local and Tribal Entities. September, 2003)

 
America's Wild Heritage – Citations

• “Across the board, the administration's proposals would allow for greater access to public lands for the extraction of natural resources.” (New York Times, 2/23/03)
• “In its policies on forests, endangered species and energy exploration, the administration has generally sought to scale back barriers to logging, drilling, mining and other kinds of development.” (New York Times, 2/23/03)
• “Americans overwhelmingly support a number of environmental protections, according to a Los Angeles Timespoll last spring. Never mind, the Bush administration is quietly selling out the environment by 'negotiating' settlement of lawsuits brought by business and industry. The Department of the Interior is using this procedure as a way to reverse the ban on snowmobiles from Yellowstone National Park and the prohibition on further road building in 60 million unspoiled acres of the national forest. It's an underhanded way of gutting needed environmental measures taken after years of study and strong popular support.” (Los Angeles Times, 10/30/01, “Negotiating Away the Environment”)
• “In just six months President Bush has succeeded in redirecting the nation's forest policy toward the liking of the timber industry. Endangered species are getting less priority while environmental reviews and public appeals are being reduced and in some cases eliminated, all part of the 'Healthy Forests' initiative Bush outlined last August for thinning overgrown woodlands prone to wildfires.” (Associated Press, 3/1/03, “Forest policy benefits timber industry in name of reducing wildfires”)
• Western public lands already host more than 60,000 producing oil and gas wells, and according to the Public Land Statistics, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has approved over 11,000 new drilling permits during the last three fiscal years alone. (DOI & DOE January 2003 EPCA Report and Public Land Statistics FY1997-FY2002)
• The coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge is the last 5 percent of Alaska's vast North Slope that remains off limits to development. Supporters of drilling in the Refuge claim the impact could be limited to 2,000 acres, but that is disingenuous. Exploration and development would sprawl across the entire 1.5 million acres. Drilling for oil and gas in the coastal plain would require 280 miles of roads, hundreds of miles of pipelines, 50 million cubic yards of gravel scoured from nearby ponds and rivers, and massive production facilities, harming the landscape, wildlife, and native culture. (based on 1987 DOI Coastal plain Resource assessment and final EIS)
• Eighty-eight percent of natural gas resources in the Rocky Mountains are available for development. Eighty-five percent of the technically recoverable oil resources are currently available. Only 12 percent of natural gas resources are “off limits” to energy exploration, most of those areas are in National Parks and Wilderness areas. More the 63 percent of public lands in the West can be leased by the energy industry with no restrictions. The natural gas industry currently has valid leases on 32 million acres of public lands in the Rocky Mountain states. (2003 report, Energy Policy Conservation Act of 2000)
• The Bush Administration has approved the proposed Rock Creek Mine under northwest Montana's Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, impacting the region’s threatened grizzly bears and bull trout. The silver and copper mine will impact grizzly bear habitat in this 94,272-acre swath of rugged, mountainous terrain in the Kootenai National Forest. The proposed mine would remove 10,000 tons of copper and silver ore per day from under the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, over a period of 35 years, resulting in a loss of more than 7,000 acres of habitat. (Missoulian, 7/11/02, “Rock Creek Mine challenged again’; http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/kootenai/projects/projects/rock_creek/index)
  
• On October 22, 2003, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to offer up for sale oil and gas leases covering almost 180,000 acres of public lands in New Mexico. Some of these parcels overlay the aquifers that feed Zuni Salt Lake and pose an obvious threat to this sacred site. BLM officials insist on going ahead with the sale even though they cannot show that Zuni Salt Lake will be protected from oil, gas or coalbed-methane drilling and the agency has not completed environmental and cultural studies and consultations. (Citizens Coal Council)
• After first pledging to uphold the landmark Roadless Area Conservation Rule designed to protect nearly 60 million acres of wild forests, the Bush Administration then failed to defend it in court and finally announced radical changes to the popular rule in June 2003. The Administration also announced a lawsuit settlement with the State of Alaska to exempt the Tongass and Chugach National Forests from the rule completely - which comprise more than 14 million roadless acres or roughly 25 percent of land protected under the roadless rule.
• Across the West, state and local governments are exploiting a loophole in a vague, long-repealed road statute to lay claim to thousands of miles throughout our public lands. Earlier this year the Bush Administration reopened this loophole that allows special interests the opportunity to crisscross America's National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, National Monuments, Wilderness Areas, and other special places with roads and development.
• Millions of acres of America's western public lands have been given up to industry interest by the latest Bush Administration back-room deal. In April, the Department of Interior “settled” a lawsuit with the state of Utah that impacts tens of millions of acres across the West. As part of the settlement, they issued national policy guidance preventing the Bureau of Land Management from inventorying or protecting wilderness-quality lands for future designation. As part of the settlement, the Bush administration threw out the Wilderness Inventory Handbook, which guided land managers in fairly inventorying wilderness-quality lands and protecting them during BLM land use planning - as required by the Federal Land Policy Management Act. (Department of Interior Instruction Memorandum No. 2003-274 and No. 2003-275, September 29, 2003.)
• Since taking office, the Bush Administration has removed 16.4 million acres of critical habitat protections for 25 threatened and endangered species, including salmon and steelhead runs in the Pacific Northwest. The Bush Administration is the first administration since the Endangered Species Act became law 30 years ago to not protect a single acre of critical habitat unless ordered to do so by the courts.

 
America's National Forests - Roadless Wild Forests – Citations

• “The road building and subsequent logging operations, which are subsidized by taxpayers, destroy habitat, cause erosion and pollute waterways. So it makes economic and environmental sense to protect certain remote wildernesses. Beyond sustaining wildlife and buffering rivers and streams, the forests are used by anglers, hunters, hikers and other outdoors enthusiasts. Alas, these users and the businesses they support do not seem to matter much to Bush's minions” Tampa Tribune, 6/20/03.
• "From Day 1, as part of its general rollback of environmental protections, the Bush administration has sought to unravel the intricate tapestry of rules and regulations that have shielded the national forests from excessive logging and other commercial activity.” (New York Times, 6/11/2003)
• “Let none be fooled: What the Bush administration did this week was carve huge exceptions and loopholes into a thoroughly vetted, well-balanced popularly supported plan to protect the ever-shrinking swaths of untrammeled national forests. The plan, approved by President Clinton in his last days in office, had been the subject of 600 public hearings that produced an overwhelming avalanche of favorable comments... The Bush administration has been working to undermine the roadless rule since inauguration day. Its latest scheme was unveiled on Monday by Mark Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist who now serves as undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and environment. (San Francisco Chronicle, 6/13/03)
• By blocking implementation of the landmark Roadless Area Conservation Rule, the Bush Administration is opening up the last wild pockets of America’s National Forests to road building, logging and other development. The roadless rule was the result of the most extensive public comment process in history, spanning three years and 600 public meetings. To date, the Forest Service has received more than 2 million comments from the American people, overwhelmingly in favor of the strongest protections for these wild forests. Instead of seizing the opportunity to protect nearly 60 million acres of the last undeveloped areas of our National Forests, the Bush Administration chose to riddle the protections full of holes. The changes allow states, many heavily influenced by the timber industry, to opt out of the rule.
• Alaska has already settled with the Bush Administration to exempt the Tongass and Chugach National Forests – comprising more than 14 million acres, roughly 25 percent of the land originally protected. Over the past 45 years, the timber industry has clearcut more than 1 million acres of old-growth forest and built nearly 5,000 miles of logging roads in southeast Alaska. American taxpayers subsidize these roads and timber sales at a cost of $30 million a year, according to the General Accounting Office. Immediately at risk are 300,000 acres of oldgrowth habitat in a state where more than 50 proposed timber sales will now move forward in the Tongass alone. (Niemi, E. 1995. The Full Economic Costs of Proposed Logging on Federal Lands.)
  
• There are 155 National Forests covering 191 million acres. These National Forests filter and purify water, providing clean, safe drinking water for 60 million Americans. Road construction is particularly damaging to forests. Of the 440,000 miles of roads in the National Forest System, only 20 percent of these receive regular maintenance. These roads dump sediment into streams, cause damage to fish and wildlife habitat and increase the cost of water filtration for towns. (Pacific Rivers Council. 1991. The Urgent Need for Watershead Protection and Restoration in the Sierra Nevada; US EPA. 2000. Principles for the Ecological Restoration of Aquatic Resources.)
• The Forest Service estimates that goods and services from National Forests contribute $145 billion to the gross domestic product of the United States every year-- less than three percent of which results from timber. Less than four percent of the nation’s total timber consumption comes from National Forests (Seeing the Forests for Their Green: Economic Benefits of Forest Protection, Recreation, and Restoration. ECONorthwest. 2000.)

 
America's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – Citations

• The United States sits on just 3 percent of the world’s known petroleum reserves, but uses 25 percent of the world’s oil. We cannot drill our way to energy independence. Government estimates indicate that there is less than a six month supply of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and even the oil industry admits it would take ten years to make it to US markets. (based on the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Adminstration annual reports)
• Ninety-five percent of Alaska’s vast North Slope is already open to drilling and development; the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge is the last remaining protected pocket of wilderness. Supporters of drilling in the Refuge claim the impact could be limited to 2,000 acres, but that is disingenuous. Exploration and development would sprawl across the entire 1.5 million acres. Drilling for oil and gas in the coastal plain would require 280 miles of roads, hundreds of miles of pipelines, 50 million cubic yards of gravel scoured from nearby ponds and rivers, and massive production facilities. (based on 1987 DOI Coastal plain Resource assessment and final EIS)
• A recent National Academy of Sciences report on the cumulative effects of drilling on Alaska’s North Slope reaffirmed the devastating impacts that drilling has already caused in the region and provided further evidence that we need to protect the Arctic Refuge. The coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a national treasure--home to polar bears, wolves, countless migratory birds, and the birthing grounds for the 129,000-member Porcupine River caribou herd. Moreover, the Refuge plays an integral part in the lives of the Gwich'in people who depend on the seasonal migrations of the caribou for both survival and cultural identity. The biological heart of this pristine wilderness is the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain. Permitting oil development on the coastal plain would not only disturb a unique and fragile ecosystem, but it would also jeopardize the traditional lifestyle of these Native Alaskans. (National Research Council Report on the Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on AK North slope, 2003).
• The Bush Administration's energy plan ignores today's technology and energy-efficient solutions in favor of increased polluting oil, gas, coal and nuclear production. Tax breaks for oil, coal and nuclear industries total $19 billion. (H.R. 6, House Energy Bill)

 
America's Wild Heritage - Oil and Gas Drilling – Citations

• “The president has made future energy needs a top priority. Unfortunately, massive drilling on public lands is deemed necessary to meet them. Inside his agencies, “preservation” has become a dirty word – a word that gets your transferred if you insist on it in a land-use plan instead of proposing to auction mineral rights to the highest bidder.” (Vanity Fair, “Sale of the Wild,” September 2003).
• "National attention has focused on Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Equally, however, "the [Rocky Mountain] Front" represents a major test of whether the petroleum and mining industries have the political clout to drill, dig and build anywhere they want. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Joel Connelly, 10/8/03)
• “But only 3 percent of the world_s oil and natural gas lies under domestic soils, while we used 25 percent of the global total in 2002. In other words, our energy
  security can never result from more drilling in our public wildernesses.” (“Drilling the Wild,” Field and Stream, 2003)
• With deep ties to the oil and gas industry, Bush and Cheney have unleashed a national energy plan that has begun to destroy hunting and fishing on millions of federal acres throughout the West, setting back effective wildlife management for decades to come.” (“Drilling the Wild,” Field and Stream, 2003)
• “The Bush administration has ordered federal managers to remove regulatory obstacles to oil and gas development along the Rocky Mountain Front. It acted with no public consultation or examination of competing land use values.” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Joel Connelly, 10/13/03)
• Already, 63 percent of public lands in the West are available for leasing with no restrictions on development, and the oil and gas industry already possess leases on more than 32 million acres of lands in the Rocky Mountain states alone. Yet in the past 3 years alone, the Bush Administration has approved over 11,000 permits on over five million acres. (DOI & DOE January 2003 EPCA Report and Public Land Statistics FY1997-FY2002)
• Large swaths of America’s public lands, and a majority of the energy rich lands, are already open to development, but the Bush Administration won’t stop there. Eighty-eight percent of natural gas resources in the Rocky Mountains are already available for development. Eighty-five percent of the technically recoverable oil resources are currently available. Only 12 percent of natural gas resources are ''off limits'' to energy exploration, most of those areas are in National Parks and Wilderness areas. More the 63 percent of public lands in the West can be leased by the energy industry with no restrictions. The natural gas industry currently has valid leases on 32 million acres of public lands in the Rocky Mountain states. Yet in the last three years, BLM has approved more than 11,000 new drilling permits. In its first year, the Bush administration increased the number of leases for oil and gas development and coal mining on public lands by 51 percent. (2003 report, Energy Policy Conservation Act of 2000; Bureau of Land Management state lease sale announcements, FY2001-FY2003)
• Unsuccessful in their attempts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the east, the Bush Administration is now turning its sights to the vast regions of the Western Arctic region. This region, encompassing nearly 24 million acres of previously untouched wilderness, is the largest single unit in America's public land estate. As oil development spreads westwards from the massive Prudhoe Bay industrial complex the Bush Administration will stop at nothing to ensure its friends in the oil industry have as much control of Alaska's vast Northern Slope as possible. In an unprecedented move in early 2003 the Administration removed the few environmental safeguards in areas already opened to development. These few protections around critical bird habitat have now been removed so full scale oil development may spread across the frontier of northern Alaska. The Administration is on pace to develop all of the 23.5 million acres of this region without consideration of the cultural, biological or recreational impacts. (North East National Petroleum Reserve Alaska Draft Environmental Impact Statement, North West National Petroleum Reserve Alaska Draft Environmental Impact Statement)
• Coalbed methane development in the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming paints a clear picture of the Bush Administration’s vision for Western public lands. According to one reporter, “Approximately 13 million acres of prairie, escarpments, and mountains provides the starkest example of how the Bush administration’s unbridled energy policy is running roughshod over our public lands. The BLM’s final environmental impact statement for the area calls for about 66,000 new coalbed methane (CBM) wells about 14,000 have already been drilled in Wyoming; several hundred in Montana), 26,000 miles of new roads, and 52,000 miles of new pipelines.” In addition to the CBM wells, which will span 12 million acres, the BLM also approved the drilling of 82,000 new oil and gas wells in the same region. (“Drilling the Wild,” Field and Stream, 2003; Powder River Basin EIS, 2002)
• “In Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, the Bureau of Land Management has approved over 75 percent of the energy industry's applications for exemptions to work in critical winter range, heretofore closed to protect wildlife - sage grouse, mule deer, and pronghorns, in particular (the Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976 gave agencies the means to close critical habitat).” (“Drilling the Wild,” Field and Stream, 2003)
• “In Texas, oil drilling has been stepped up at Padre Island National Seashore; the heavy trucks that daily service this project’s 156-foot drilling derrick roll across beaches that serve as the main nesting grounds for the imperiled Kemp’s-ridley sea turtle.” (Vanity Fair, “Sale of the Wild,” September 2003).