The cumulative effects of this expansion have major consequences for those whose role in the economy depends on important resources located on federal lands and for the nation. Any discussion of increased access to natural gas reserves inevitably turns to the technology used in the 21 st century to find and remove the gas. With advanced technologies, the oil and gas industry can pinpoint resources more accurately, extract them more efficiently and with less surface area and with less surface disturbance, minimize associated wastes, and, ultimately, restore sites to original or better condition. These advances in technology apply to exploration and production on hundreds of millions of acres of lands owned by the federal government. However, the domestic producing industry is not asking to drill on parklands or in wilderness areas set aside by Acts of Congress.
Critics often portray the industry as careless about environmental concerns.
They have probably never visited a rig where safety and environmental protection are the central concerns, regardless of their location, and where our obligations with the government require us to return the land to its original status once oil or gas production ceases. The Roadless Rule continues the trend toward less development of the natural resources beneath federal lands. No new leases of Forest Service lands could be granted where roads must be constructed to achieve the purposes of the lease. The resulting decrease in petroleum activities will have a significant impact on jobs. Moreover, the withdrawal of these lands from leasing will have a seriously negative impact on the U.S. Treasury.