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Rp Pros And Cons

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To allocate leasing permits the Secretary of the Interior must first create a Resource Management Plan(RMP) for the lands under BLM jurisdiction, while providing “opportunities for the public and various levels of government to participate in the development of RMP’s (Vann 2012, 3).” Due to the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), the process of creating an RMP often requires interdisciplinary cooperation in order to piece together a realistic Environmental Impact Statement(EIS) or Environmental Assessment (EA) (Vann 2012). The interdisciplinary cooperation necessary to meet NEPA requirements often includes government agencies, environmental managers, scientists, and the potential private contractors. Such a combination of …show more content…

The Federal Surface Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (FSCRA) attempted to shift some of the responsibility for environmental consequences to the private contractors who rely on mining for privatized profit (Menzel 1981 et al. Chan 2017). Notably, the FSCRA did not attempt to mitigate environmental degradation derived from oil drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Whereas, oil drilling and hydraulic fracturing tend to fall underlies stringent regulations, but NEPA still applies to these processes. The consequences of oil drilling and hydraulic fracturing “include deforestation, ecosystem destruction, chemical contamination of land and water, long-term harm to animal populations (particularly migratory birds and marine mammals)” (O’Rourke 2003, 594). In addition, hydraulic fracturing require an extractive fluid which often entails the usage of chemicals that are “either carcinogenic or associated with numerous health problems affecting the eyes, skin, lungs, intestines, liver, brain, and nervous system” (Kargbo 2010, 5681). For example, in New York it has been confirmed that “formaldehyde, pesticides, acids, and numerous other hazardous materials” have been found in “hydrofracture fluids” (Kargbo 2010, 5681). The extraction of coal, oil, and natural gas degrades the environment and has the most detrimental impacts locally.

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