Proposal fast tracks oil development in national forests, green groups say

Environmental groups fear a new proposal from the Trump administration would greenlight more oil and gas development within national forest land. A Monday proposal from the U.S. Forest Service would severely limit the agency’s ability to call off any oil drilling slated for its lands by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which tees up leasing in federal forests. “This proposal would basically make the Forest Service a rubber stamp for the fossil fuel industry,” Michael Saul, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a release. “We face accelerating climate change, fire and drought, and the last thing we should be doing is making it easier to auction off our irreplaceable national forests for destructive drilling and fracking.” ADVERTISEMENT The proposed rule released Monday removes specific references within Forest Service policy to review environmental consequences of drilling and also eliminates the requirement to provide public notice before new oil activity takes place...MORE