First, Ban Oil Shale Development On 1.6 Million Acres

Updates

November 9, 2012: I get an occasional comment suggesting that some of my notes are way off base, including my concern about a ban on exporting coal which I list below as on EPA's "to do" list. Some folks think that my concerns are beyond the pale ... and then this at the link: not at all; it is very, very possible the US could ban coal exports.  One reader who comments regularly calls the goals of these faux environmentalists "economic suicide."

The series of hearings all focus on whether governmental agencies should issue permits required for a coal export terminal at Cherry Point, near Bellingham, Wash. The agencies are required to hold meetings to gather comments from the public about possible environmental and health impacts.

If a small group of faux environmentalists could kill the Keystone, a small group of faux environmentalists could kill an entire domestic industry. It is not beyond the pale.

Original Post

Link here to The Hill.

Within three days of re-election, the announcement:

The Interior Department on Friday issued a final plan to close 1.6 million acres of federal land in the West originally slated for oil shale development.
Interior’s Bureau of Land Management cited environmental concerns for the proposed changes. Among other things, it excised lands with “wilderness characteristics” and areas that conflicted with sage grouse habitats.

Under the plan, 677,000 acres in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming would be open for oil shale exploration. Another 130,000 acres in Utah would be set aside for tar sands production.

The EPA's coal announcement is next.

Which reminds me, I still have to do that "to do" list for the EPA.

Rough draft:

✓ Permitorium in the Gulf of Mexico
✓ Delay drilling in the Arctic another year (repeat annually)
    Double CAFE standards five years earlier than current timetable
    Increase penalties for migratory bird kills
✓ Unlimited waiver of liability for wind turbines (migratory bird kills)
✓ Confirm tortoises have been relocated (solar farms)
    Increase emissions standards on coal plants
✓ Close 90% of federal land to further oil shale exploration (think sage grouse)
    Federal regulation of hydraulic fracking on state land
    Ban all hyraulic fracking
✓ Kill Keystone XL
    Re-define "clean coal": [kleen kohl], noun, mythic fossil fuel found only in Australia and China
    Ban export of coal
    Declare dust bunnies to be carcinogenic

Note: as items are taken off the list, new ones will be added. The "to do" list should have, at a minimum, ten open items.