Trump taps well of protest with calls for
more drilling in national parks
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[January 11, 2017]
By Annie Knox and Kim Palmer
(Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump
aims to open up federal lands to more energy development, tapping into a
long-running and contentious debate over how best to manage America’s
remaining wilderness.
The U.S. government holds title to about 500 million acres of land
across the country, including national parks and forests, wildlife
refuges and tribal territories stretching from the Arctic to the Gulf of
Mexico. They overlay billions of barrels of oil and vast quantities of
natural gas, coal, and uranium.
With Trump poised to take office on Jan. 20, energy companies and their
lobbyists are eyeing a new gusher of federal drilling and mining leases
after a period of stagnation under the administration of Barack Obama.
Oil output on federal land made up about a fifth of the national total
in 2015 - down from more than a third in 2010 - while the number of
onshore drilling leases fell about 15 percent, according to federal
data.
"This opportunity is unique, maybe once in a lifetime," said Jack
Gerard, president of the Washington D.C.-based American Petroleum
Institute lobby group, referring to prospects for increased access to
federal leases.
The hoped-for land run by energy companies, however, could get bogged
down by lawsuits and lobbying from environmental groups and some local
residents.
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"It would only take one serious mistake - one well to go bad - for our
town’s water supply to be damaged," said Josh Ewing, the leader of a
southern Utah conservation group.
Energy firms have their allies in the rural areas, too, who would
welcome an economic jolt.
"We can’t maintain our families here because there are no jobs," said
Bob Turri, a former officer with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in
southern Utah, surrounded by millions of acres of pristine federally
managed forest. "That’s the only hope we have left, is what Trump may be
able to do for us."
Trump had campaigned on a promise to open up federal lands to increased
development. He accused Obama of "denying millions of Americans access
to the energy wealth sitting under our feet" by restricting leasing and
banning new coal extraction.
In December, Trump nominated U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana,
who backs coal mining on federal lands, to lead the Interior Department.
Officials for Zinke and Trump declined to comment.
Trump has vowed to lift the coal moratorium – imposed in 2016 as part of
Obama’s broader plan to combat climate change - within 100 days of
taking office.
Separately, a coalition appointed by Trump's team to guide his Native
American policy is researching proposals to ease energy development on
tribal lands - including the controversial idea of transferring them to
private ownership. [nL5N1DZ0OY]
While efforts to boost industry access to public lands would likely
trigger lawsuits and protests, it could win broad support in a Congress
now firmly in Republican control after November’s election.
Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, said he
expected some of Trump’s planned moves to be easy, including reversing
Obama's coal ban.
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"Happily, just as it was created with the stroke of a pen, it can be as
easily rescinded," he said. "That is our hope and expectation."
Other efforts to undo Obama’s legacy could be harder.
"AT YOUR PERIL"
In his final weeks in office, Obama designated about 1.6 million acres
in Utah and Nevada as national monuments, using the 1906 Antiquities Act
that lawyers say could be complicated to reverse. The move was a parting
gift to Native American groups and conservationists.
Obama also banned new drilling in federal waters in parts of the
Atlantic and Arctic Oceans using a 1950s-era law that environmental
groups say would also require a drawn out court challenge to reverse.
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David Perkins says he hopes President-elect Donald Trump would
reverse a possible national monument in the Bears Ears area of
southern Utah after losing investors in his oil well after a push
intensified for a national monument in the acres surrounding his
lease west of Blanding, Utah, U.S., December 19, 2016. REUTERS/Annie
Knox
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Republican lawmakers have promised to fight the moves.
For some, the potential for expanded drilling signals economic
revival. Others see more value in the land itself than the resources
beneath it.
One of the areas that Obama granted monument status last month is
Bears Ears, a pair of iconic flat-top hills soaring out of ponderosa
pine forests in Utah.
Jonah Yellowman, a Navajo spiritual advisor for Utah Diné Bikéyah, a
group representing five tribes, surveyed the landscape recently as
he piloted his SUV down a dirt road.
"What would happen if we lose this?" he asked. "Where are we going
to go?"
The area, he said, is central to the Navajo creation story and a
symbol of his ancestors’ ability to listen to and heed spiritual
guidance. It is also rich in minerals and petroleum, and Yellowman
said tribes are bracing for Trump to try to reopen the land to
development.
"If that happens, we’re here to stand against it," he said.
EOG Resources - a Texas-based company recently approved to drill
near Bears Ears - declined to comment.
Native American protesters and their supporters recently won a major
battle against encroaching energy interests in North Dakota,
blocking a federal permit for a pipeline after months of protests.
[nL1N1EA1WI] Other tribes, however, have pursued energy development
as a critical source of income.
Nearly 2,000 miles east of Bears Ears, in Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley
National Park, a similar debate is playing out.
The 330,000-acre federal park is one of a handful that already
allows drilling because it contains areas with privately owned
mineral rights, or “split estates”. Many of the park’s visitors are
unaware of the industry’s presence.
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Gregory Violand, a 65-year-old actor who performs at a playhouse on
park grounds – two miles from a gas well surrounded by chain-link
fencing - said he supports drilling on federal lands, if done
responsibly.
"The property owners are benefiting," he said.
Deb Yandala disagreed. As CEO of the CVNP Conservancy advocacy
group, she said many people would oppose efforts to expand drilling
and mining rights. “Water quality is a huge issue for Cuyahoga
Valley,” she said.
Tim McCormack, a nearby resident, said the issue would be divisive.
"There is going to be a profound debate," he said. "You cannot fool
with the National Park system. You can at your peril."
(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; additional reporting by Valerie
Volcovici; editing by Brian Thevenot)
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