Energy Bill Targets Cornerstone Environmental Policy

"This latest energy-bill go-round brings, in addition to the Peterson amendment, a new provision that would exempt non-fossil-fuel and non-nuclear projects from a NEPA requirement that developers consider site alternatives, and significantly shorten the required public comment period. The aim is 'to accelerate efforts to bring clean, renewable, emissions-free energy sources online,' said Brian Kennedy, a majority spokesperson for the House Resources Committee. A worthy goal, to be sure, but critics say it gives inadequate attention to the potentially adverse environmental effects that even renewable-energy projects can have -- a wind-farm developer, for instance, would not be required to consider more bird-friendly sites. An added concern is that the provision would enable big hydroelectric dams and solid-waste incinerators to be considered 'renewable' sources eligible for expedited treatment.

"Still, say environmental advocates, that's small potatoes compared to the sweeping rollbacks proposed in the Peterson amendment, which would excuse oil and gas activities from environmental impact statements in seven different circumstances. These include exemptions for any proposals to drill well pads less than five acres in size. Dave Alberswerth of the Wilderness Society described this as a 'death by a thousand cuts' scenario. 'Most drill pads are less than five acres,' he said, 'so a proposal for 80 wells over a 400-acre drilling project, say, could just be recast as 80 different five-acre projects, none of which would have to undergo environmental review.'"