Drilling & mining in store for 2 iconic SW parks

NPS should do more to protect parks like Petrified Forest from drilling and mining.

TUCSON -- Drilling and mining may soon harm Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona and Aztec Ruins National Monument in New Mexico, according to an internal Interior Department document released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

Only plummeting commodity prices caused by the current recession, not any National Park Service actions, have delayed groundbreaking for new natural gas wells and potash mining in or adjacent to the parks.

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OTHER COVERAGE: Santa Fe New Mexican