ABSTRACT
In response to national security and energy independence concerns following 9/11, President Bush’s National Energy Plan, or Federal Energy Initiative, of 2003 set an urgent agenda to develop natural gas and other fossil fuels on public lands throughout the West. This executive order effectively relaxed restrictions on leasing permits for oil and gas development by private corporations on public lands. In one fell swoop, federal policy guidelines governing public lands, deemed impractical in the post-9/11 political climate, became “red tape”—and energy development and independence from foreign resources became the order of the day. In its wake and in conjunction with reductions in federal funding, important protections for public lands were suspended, such as inventorying cultural resources, assessing adverse impacts, vetting alternative proposals, and reaching consensus on what constitutes signifi cant impacts on cultural and environmental resources.
