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December 13, 2005
NEW POLICY SLASHES
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES & PUBLIC OVERSIGHT FOR DRILLING IN LOS
PADRES
Forest
Service Could Allow Oil Drilling to Proceed Without
Environmental Assessments or Impact Statements
Washington, D.C. - The Forest
Service today proposed a new policy designed to streamline the
environmental documentation process for oil drilling on the Los
Padres and other national forests across the country. The
proposal will allow certain oil development activities to occur
without the usual preparation of detailed environmental studies.
New
oil wells, like this one near the Sespe Wilderness, could be
excluded
from environmental documentation under a new Forest Service
proposal.
Currently, oil exploration and
development activities cannot take place on national forest
lands until the agency first prepares an Environmental
Assessment (EA) or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). These
documents are required by the National Environmental Policy Act,
which directs agencies to prepare detailed documents to identify
and reduce damage caused to the environment.
The new policy, once finalized,
will allow the Forest Service to exploit a loophole in this law
called a "categorical exclusion." This loophole would allow
officials to approve activities like road construction, drill
pad construction, and pipeline installation without first
preparing an EA or EIS.
Specifically, the proposal
excludes the following activities from documentation:
- one mile of new road
construction;
- one mile of road
reconstruction;
- three miles of pipeline
installation; and
- four drill sites.
The new "categorical exclusion"
could increase the pace at which new oil drilling occurs in the
Los Padres National Forest. In July, officials approved a plan
to expand oil drilling across 52,075 acres of the Los Padres.
When approving this plan, the agency repeatedly promised that
all future drilling activities "will be subject to site-specific
environmental review and public comment."
If this new policy takes
effect, oil drilling could expand in the Los Padres with the
minimal levels of environmental review, and with public comment
severely restricted. Worse, a new law passed by Congress this
summer establishes even more loopholes. This law, combined with
the agency's current proposal, could increase the pace of oil
drilling expansion in the Los Padres.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005
The Forest Service proposal is
even more disastrous when combined with other "categorical
exclusions" that Congress passed as part of the Energy Policy
Act of 2005. This energy bill provided huge handouts to the oil
and gas industry, reducing royalty rates, increasing the rate at
which drilling permits are issued, and opening up national
forests and other public lands for oil drilling.
The energy bill adds another
layer of activities that are now excluded from environmental
documentation. The law excludes the following activities from
preparation of an EA or EIS:
- Surface damage of less
than 5 acres;
- Drilling a well where
drilling has previously occurred within 5 years;
- Drilling a well in a
developed field where a land use plan or environmental
document analyzed such drilling as a reasonably foreseeable
activity
- Placement of pipeline in
an approved right-of-way corridor; and
- Maintenance of a "minor
activity." The Act does not define what constitutes a minor
activity.
These loopholes, combined with
the Forest Service's proposed loopholes, will make it much
easier for oil companies to drill in the Los Padres National
Forest, will decrease the amount of environmental studies that
need to be prepared, and will reduce the amount of public
participation and oversight into these damaging activities.
Extraordinary Circumstances
The agency claims that the new
policy is no cause for alarm because it would not apply to
projects that contain "extraordinary circumstances." However,
last year the agency narrowed its definition of what constitutes
an "extraordinary circumstance," allowing even more projects to
be rammed through using the new loophole.
Public Participation & Oversight
The Forest Service downplays
the significance of this new policy, arguing that officials will
still post notice of these projects to the public, and provide
public comment and appeal opportunities.
However, the agency only allows
public comment and appeal opportunities for "categorically
excluded" projects because of a recent court decision ordering
it to do so. Ironically, the agency asked the court to
indefinitely postpone this ruling on October 7, and after the
court rejected the Forest Service's request, officials have now
appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
What's Next
In a press release, the Forest
Service says that its proposed policy will "improve the
environmental review process." Instead of offering meaningful
improvement, however, it is clear that the proposal seeks only
to expand loopholes to make it easier for the oil industry to
plunder our public lands.
The Forest Service is accepting
public comments on this new proposal until mid-February 2006.
The agency will then review these public comments and issue the
final version of its policy later in the year.
ForestWatch will submit
detailed comments on this proposal. Check back in February to
find out how you can easily send a letter voicing your
disapproval over this rollback.
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