09/29/05 N.E.P.A. and new oil resources

We are in the throws of a gasoline shortage, yet new refineries have not been built in 40 years. Thanks to zealous environmentalists in DC it's fine to have an oil rig in someone's back yard in Texas but heaven forbid an Alaskan caribou should glimpse one. Many of our western forests are now dangerous tinder boxes due to environmental injunctions against any logging and most the most disturbing of all, a project to build a hurricane barrier for New Orleans, again 40 years ago, was panned due to an environmental lawsuit. Apparently Hurricane Katrina is the last straw for a bevy of politicians who believe that the National Environmental Policy Act that allows the environmental community to challenge private and public projects by tying them up in law suits could in realty be impacting our safety. A bipartisan House panel has requested that the Justice Department compile a list of all the projects blocked by environmental lawsuits similar to levy proposed in the 60's that could possibly have saved New Orleans. Source: Seattle Times Monday 09/19/2005