A Bloomberg report captured three views on the matter.
The first:
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he is nullifying oil and natural gas drilling leases on about 130,000 acres in Utah because they are near national parks and questions have been raised about environmental reviews.
The second:
“I see this announcement as a sign that after eight long years of rapacious greed and backdoor dealings, our government is returning a sense of balance to the way it manages our lands,” actor and director Robert Redford, a trustee for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.
The third:
“We wonder why the administration is implementing policies that will limit economic development in the West, decrease energy security and make addressing climate change even more difficult,” Kathleen Sgamma, director of government affairs for the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, said in a statement.
So, who is right?
Well, given that the regions are not in and will not affect national parks, and the solid environmental record exhibited by the oil and gas industry over recent decades, it seems pretty clear that the Obama administration is pandering to groups that view expanded domestic energy production as examples of, in Mr. Redford’s words, “rapacious greed.”
Meanwhile, Ms. Sgamma is generally on the mark.
Consumers and small businesses will benefit from expanded domestic energy production. This step in Utah is not good news on that front.
Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
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