We've become familiar with this routine, where the Bush team who is supposed to be looking out for the environment instead is focused on business interests. Anyone who thinks McCain would dump these people needs to have their head examined. In a rush to help Big Energy, Republicans always forget about nature as well as tourist dollars. It's as if they never heard of people paying good money to enjoy unspoiled nature, which is what Michigan's upper peninsula offers.
Forest supervisor Leanne Marten said when approving Savoy's application that the project wouldn't significantly harm the environment and the company would be required to keep noise to a minimum.
But the judge ruled the Forest Service didn't consider how degrading the area could harm tourism, and said the agency did a "woefully inadequate" job of evaluating how the drilling might affect the Kirtland's warbler, an endangered songbird that nests in the area.
Two environmental groups, the Sierra Club and Anglers of the Au Sable, sued the government to halt the drilling. Joining the suit was Tim Mason, whose grandfather, auto executive George Mason, donated the original 1,200 acres to the state upon his death in 1954 and asked that it be maintained as wilderness.
