When Western residents wake up to the fact that the Bush administration has a ... scheme to divest the public of its lands, I don't think people are going to like that very much.

This is not going to be politically acceptable to most people.

They have to have a fairly recent analysis of the impacts before they can apply these categorical exclusions. If they're planning to improperly apply these exemptions ... in places where there are old land use plans that are out of date, then they are asking for legal trouble.

If you look at the actual facts on the ground, they have thousands of more drilling permits in their pockets than they can even drill on. So why is Congress or the administration always looking for ways to exempt the wealthiest companies in the world from their environmental responsibilities?

The Bureau of Land Management has essentially become the bureau of oil and gas development.

The industry is awash in federal drilling permits. They have so many, they don't know what to do with them.