Bush Administration Blocks Information on Oil, Gas Drilling on Public Land

[acmavm]

http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000139.php

<snip>
A request for information on how much oil and gas private corporations are extracting from taxpayers' public lands has been stymied by the Bush Administration's refusal to comply with the spirit of the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The request for public information was filed by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG) last March. EWG is seeking to determine the quantity and value of oil and gas extracted from public lands in the U.S. EWG's investigation also seeks to ascertain the environmental impact of extracting oil and gas from land leased to private corporations by the U.S. Department of the Interior, said Arianne Callender, general counsel for EWG.

"We are hoping to analyze the value of the Department of the Interior's oil and gas activities as it compares to other uses of the land," Callender told BushGreenWatch. "We hope to find out what these leases are really worth, and if there is potential harm to our natural resources."

But the federal government's response to the request imposes a "cost-prohibitive" $6,500 fee and asserts that it would take 200 hours of staff time to compile data, pushing the release of the information to well past the end of the year – and, notably, past the upcoming presidential election. <1>

-More-

[Catfight]

1. nothing to see here..move along!

[aquart]

2. Ohh, the stench of scandal in the morning.

[billybob537]

3. They don't want you to know

that the oil co.s aren't paying the royalties they owe to the treasury. This is part of vice pResident Chenrony's energy policy.
Did you know we subsidise energy cos. to the tune of $? billion.

[dusty64]

4. There is NO way

this should be allowed. How do they continue to get away with this shit?