Or...why right-wing paranoia has reached a fevered pitch in the Allegheny National Forest region.
There's been a lot of events that have transpired over the past year or so on the Allegheny National Forest regarding oil and gas drilling. For a primer on this issue, you can read my previous diaries here, here and here.
Long story short: 93% of the mineral rights underlying the Allegheny National Forest are privately owned and until very recently, the U.S. Forest Service has refused to conduct the appropriate environmental analysis pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) before authorizing access to and surface occupancy of the Allegheny for the exercise of private mineral rights.
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