Originally published July 30 2005
Texas Congress hears new environmental law
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
An environmental law requiring the federal government to consider the harm to natural resources before a road is built, a dam is constructed or a gas well is drilled will be heard Sunday in a congressional meeting in East Texas.
A landmark environmental law requiring the federal government to consider the harm to natural resources before a road is built, a dam constructed or gas well drilled will be scrutinized Saturday at a congressional meeting in East Texas.
Though supporters of the legislation call it the "Magna Carta" of environmental statutes, critics in recent years have said it has enabled activists to delay projects with reams of paperwork and expensive litigation, which in some cases has stretched for decades.
"We share the goals of clean air and clean water and protecting the environment," said U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris, R-Washington, the task force's chair.
Environmentalists, who complained Thursday that they will be underrepresented at the Nacogdoches meeting, see the review as an attempt to gut the law, as they claim conservatives in Congress are attempting to do with the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Air Act.
The Bush administration in 2002 proposed the Healthy Forests Initiative, which streamlines the review of some logging projects in federal forests.
An amendment to the House energy bill would exclude some oil and gas projects from environmental evaluations.
Public input and a year of negotiations prevented the government from lining the bayou with concrete.
Those testifying for industry, however, will showcase what they say are the law's downsides.
"Over the years, and particularly in the last 10 years, the process has been very time-consuming, expensive and has basically evolved into a process that is driven by litigation," said Steve Smith, executive director for the Texas Mining and Reclamation Association.
Larry Shelton, who will speak on behalf of the Texas Committee on Natural Resources, a conservation group, says NEPA isn't to blame for Abitibi's closure.
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