{"id":1313248,"date":"2019-08-06T18:00:53","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T00:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=985588"},"modified":"2019-08-06T18:00:53","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T00:00:53","slug":"forest-service-could-approve-logging-oil-gas-projects-without-public-comment-under-proposed-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/forest-service-could-approve-logging-oil-gas-projects-without-public-comment-under-proposed-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Forest Service could approve logging, oil & gas projects without public comment under proposed rules"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Beetle kill area in the Rocky Mountains.<\/strong>
Shutterstock image<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Proposed changes to the U.S. Forest Service\u2019s rules could make it easier to approve logging and oil extraction projects on public lands.<\/p>\n

The Forest Service touts the new Natural Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rules as a way to make faster decisions in worsening conditions<\/a> on public lands. But conservation advocates say that the public will be shut out of critical decisions if the rules go into place.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shuts the public out of the decisions about public lands, and favors corporate interests over the public interests,\u201d said Peter Hart of Wilderness Workshop in Carbondale.<\/p>\n

The proposed rules, published<\/a> June 13 in the Federal Register, change the thresholds for what projects can be approved without the full environmental impact statement or environmental assessment.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAcross the board, they\u2019re reducing the requirement that the public is engaged in these processes\u201d \u2014Peter Hart, Wilderness Workshop<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

The new rule, which could take effect in 2020, expands the categorical exclusions, which allows land management agencies to approve projects without full environmental review, for a number of projects.<\/p>\n

Logging projects on a maximum of 4,200 acres, or about 6.6 square miles, could be approved without requiring full environmental review. For comparison, the Sunlight Ski permit area is around 2,500 acres, and only about 700 acres is skiable terrain.<\/p>\n

The logging projects would be part of \u201cactivities to improve ecosystem health, resilience and other watershed conditions,\u201d the rule states.<\/p>\n

Many of the new categorical exclusions would make it easier for local Forest Service rangers to clear beetle kill areas, conduct fire mitigation work, rebuild roads, tear down unused buildings and improve infrastructure for recreation activities.<\/p>\n

Under the proposed rules, oil and gas extraction projects could also be approved without full environmental review under the new rules. The rule allows the Forest Service to approve exploratory drilling, up to four oil and gas drill sites, three miles of pipeline and one mile of new road construction, under the categorical exclusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross the board, they\u2019re reducing the requirement that the public is engaged in these processes,\u201d Hart said.<\/p>\n

The full NEPA process often takes years, and requires a great deal of funds for studies. The new rules would allow the Forest Service to rely on existing scientific analysis to avoid redundant research.<\/p>\n

The rules don\u2019t prohibit public comment for the projects eligible for categorical exclusion. Additional public comment \u201cis at the discretion of the local responsible official,\u201d the Forest Service said<\/a> in a fact sheet.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnabling the responsible official to \u2018right-size\u2019 public engagement to the needs of each project offers efficiency by allowing limited resources to be directed where they are most needed,\u201d the fact sheet said.<\/p>\n

The rules also provide additional guidance to \u201cencourage early and ongoing engagement with the public,\u201d according to the fact sheet.<\/p>\n

For Hart, the potential for misuse of the streamlined approval has grave implications for the public input process.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things about NEPA is that it allows the public the opportunity to participate in the process informally through the first several rounds, and informally through the appeals process,\u201d Hart said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of those things require a lot of expertise \u2014 anybody can do it, you don\u2019t have to be an attorney. But once you\u2019re dealing with categorical exclusions, where there\u2019s no public process, and you\u2019re objecting to a decision, the only recourse is in the courts,\u201d Hart said.<\/p>\n

Wilderness Workshop is working on filing a response to the proposed rules before the public comment deadline Aug. 12.<\/p>\n

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beetle kill area in the Rocky Mountains.Shutterstock image Proposed changes to the U.S. Forest Service\u2019s rules could make it easier to approve logging and oil extraction projects on public lands. The Forest Service touts the new Natural Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rules as a way to make faster decisions in worsening conditions on public lands. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1313248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 21:23:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}