ANF Settlement
Details seem to favor coalition of preservation groupsBy ERIC PADDOCK epaddock@timesobserver.com
A settlement has been reached in one of the several lawsuits filed against the U.S. Forest Service with regard to oil and gas development on the Allegheny National Forest and at least appears to favor a coalition of environmental preservation groups.
The Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics had joined with the Allegheny Defense Project and the Sierra Club in a suit against the Forest Service, which was intervened by the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association and the Allegheny Forest Alliance, related to the procedure for granting permission to proceed notices for oil and gas development in the ANF.
The plaintiffs had challenged the issuance of Notices to Proceed for development of outstanding oil and gas resources on the ANF without preparation of environmental analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act.
On Wednesday, a stipulation of dismissal and a settlement was entered in the Federal District Court for Western Pennsylvania which included a number of agreements.
According to the settlement, 34 applications for development of oil and gas resources had complete information and field surveys underway or completed at the time of the filing. Another 20 have since been substantially completed.
The settlement allows the
Forest Service to issue notices to proceed in instances where the applications are complete or substantially complete.
However, another 31 lack some applicant information and remain incomplete, and three are located in "areas of concern," including the Rimrock and Morrison areas and areas currently being considered for wilderness designation.
The Forest Service would immediately halt processing of the applications in the "areas of concern" and conduct appropriate analysis of the proposed projects under NEPA.
The other incomplete applications pending would be held up pending appropriate NEPA analysis. The agreement leaves open the opportunity for challenges to the NEPA analysis in those cases for any Notice to Proceed that is not automatically granted for any of the 34 applications that are complete.
The defendant in the case also agrees to pay the plaintiff's attorney's fees and costs in the lump sum total of $19,221.60.
The satisfaction of the agreement would result in a dismissal of the suit "with prejudice," meaning that it cannot be revisited.
The court also stipulated that the agreement covers only those reserved and outstanding oil and gas resources for development on the Allegheny National Forest and does not affect the management of any other national forest.
The terms of the settlement did not sit well with Congressman Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-5.
According to Patrick Creighton, communications director for Thompson, "Congressman Thompson is seriously troubled by this so-called 'settlement.' While we are awaiting clarification from the Justice Department of the exact implications, the Congressman's position remains unchanged - and that is the subsurface mineral rights owners have every right to access what they legally own."
Creighton pointed out that when the ANF was created 86 years ago, the federal government left the mineral rights in the hands of the private sector. "This 'settlement' not only tramples these rights, it sets a dangerous precedent for future energy production.
"The fact that the Justice Department has agreed to pay the plaintiff's attorneys who brought this suit against the government, $19,221.60 in legal fees, is an insult to the taxpayers of the United States," he said.
He contended that the settlement will result in a loss of employment in the area, calling the settlement "one-sided."
Representatives of the opposing parties in the suit could not be reached for comment.
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ranger52
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04-10-09 8:27 PM
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The Forest Service has been in the pocket of big oil for two long. I found many wells drilled on the ANF without any notice at all to the Forest Service. When they were reported, nothing was done to the responsible parties. Of course all the environmental concerns went forgotten. Serious oversight needs to be administered to insure that the O.G.M. developers on the forest, comply with some semblance of environmental regulations and concerns,
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Milkman
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04-10-09 11:07 AM
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Eighty-six years ago there was no Kinzua Dam, no Rimrock overlook and no Morrison Run trail system. At that time congress decided not to purchase the subsurface rights in most of the ANF. What would they have done then knowing what we know today about recreation, the environment and wilderness preservation?
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Jacksonian
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04-10-09 9:59 AM
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Looks like the Feds are throwing the oil and gas people under the bus. I smell a whole lot more legal work to come.
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