The oil and gas drilling frenzy hits Western public lands
By Joshua Zaffos / Sierra
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hile the pandering militia followers of Cliven Bundy (Nevada – failed to pay his grazing bill) Ammon (occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon) and now a third Bundy, Ryan (Idaho) volunteer to disgrace themselves and spit in the face of state and federal laws – falsely claiming the government is violating their constitional rights (how they get there is found only in the miracle of nonsense).
This distraction masks what has really been going down on our public and private lands; Fracking. Our federal government, under the Obama Administration, has issued more leases for oil and gas drilling and Fracking rights on rangelands, split-estate lands (federal agencies own minerals beneath private properties and public lands). That itself is not too disturbing until you look at the numbers. These oil and gas leases on public, and private lands are now greater in acres than the entire state of Georgia, grand totaling 38,500,000 acres (source – Natural Resources Defense Council).
On private lands, companies with mineral rights are free to punch holes, build roads, and set up equipment regardless of a surface-rights owner’s concerns. Drilling on public lands, however, requires scrutiny from citizens and government scientists through the Nationtional Environmental Policy Act, and protests and lawsuits can hold up drilling plans.
