shinobi602
Member
The National Park Service is encouraging all citizens to call their reps and demand this action be STOPPED.
Use the below information and template to help with that:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/
Below is a statement by Nicholas Lund, Senior Manager of National Parks Conservation Associations Conservation Programs:
Background
https://www.npca.org/articles/1462-...=socialmedia#sm.000htn65h1aaleuxwsw1fx4gnaa8d
Use the below information and template to help with that:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/
WASHINGTON Congressman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) last night introduced H.J. Res. 46, which seeks to repeal updates to the National Park Services 9B rules. The rules require detailed planning and set safety standards for oil and gas drilling inside the more than 40 national parks that have split estate ownership, where the federal government owns the surface but not the subsurface mineral rights.
The resolution is just the latest in a series of moves by federal lawmakers to weaken environmental protections for national parks under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). If these repeals are signed into law under the CRA, it will not only stop these protections, it will also prohibit agencies from issuing similar rules and protections in the future, unless directed by Congress.
The House is set to vote Friday to repeal rules to prevent the waste of methane gas from oil and gas facilities. CRA challenges were also introduced Monday in the House and Senate to repeal Bureau of Land Management Planning 2.0 rules, which seek to guide an appropriate balance of energy development, conservation and recreation on public lands by better utilizing environmental science.
Below is a statement by Nicholas Lund, Senior Manager of National Parks Conservation Associations Conservation Programs:
These challenges are direct attacks on Americas national parks. Each of these rules provides the commonsense protections for national parks that millions of Americans demand. If the Park Services drilling rules are repealed, national parks across the country would be subjected to poorly regulated oil and gas drilling, threatening parks air, water and wildlife. These attempts to weaken protections put our parks at risk. And by using the Congressional Review Act process, Congress is forever tying the hands of the agencies charged with protecting Americas favorite places. If Congress wants to protect national parks for future generations, it must reject these challenges.
Background
There are more than 40 national parks where the federal government does not own the mineral rights below the surface, including Cuyahoga Valley NP in Ohio, Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.
The 9B rules are updates to rules established in 1978 setting reasonable safeguards for national parks from private oil and gas development. The rules simply require an operator to produce a Plan of Operations before accessing their mineral rights, give the National Park Service (NPS) the authority to conduct safety enforcement and provide standard technical requirements for the safeguarding of national park air, water, and wildlife.
If Congress repeals these rules, drilling could occur in national parks with little more than bare-minimum state regulations. The Park Service will have essentially no authority over oil and gas development proposed inside national parks. Leaks and spills could go unpunished without NPS authority to enforce safety standards. Companies would be able to build roads through national parks to begin drilling, such as the 11-mile road through the heart of Big Cypress National Preserve built to reach an oil and gas lease. Drilling companies would not be required to inform parks or park visitors about when or how drilling operations would occur.
https://www.npca.org/articles/1462-...=socialmedia#sm.000htn65h1aaleuxwsw1fx4gnaa8d