Bush Administration pushed Natural Gas Exploration in Southwest

Signaling their desire to exploit native resources first, the Bush Administration is puching a plan to drill for Natural Gas in a New Mexico National Forest:

Overriding the opposition of the U.S. Forest Service and New Mexico state officials, a White House energy task force has interceded on behalf of Houston-based El Paso Corp. in its two-year effort to explore for natural gas in a remote part of a national forest next door to America's largest Boy Scout camp.

Forest Service officials discouraged efforts to drill in the Valle Vidal at least three times since the agency acquired the land in 1982, citing concerns about water pollution, wildlife and recreation if a large-scale energy project were approved.

But last week, the agency took the first step toward approving the giant energy company's proposal to tap into 40,000 acres of alpine meadows in the Carson National Forest. The agency released a report that forecast a high probability of recovering gas from the area and laid out a scenario in which 500 wells could be drilled on the forest's east side.

The issue of Natural Gas supplies is not one of quantitiy--there is plenty of it in the world--it is the logistics of getting the gas from where the supply is to where the demand is. That is why six competing projects are looking to place LNG terminals along the West Coast to meet California's energy demands.