I consider ecological issues to be not only deeply theological issues, but also “democracy” issues (thus my categorization of this post), since this is a theological issue that holds one of the more wide reaching “public welfare” issues: that of the affect of “profit motives”* over long term ecological impact (a long term effect getting shorter and shorter every year)

*(ie. energy companies, who seem to have quite a “friend” in the Bush administration—indeed, the energy companies seem to BE the Bush administration)

Energy Bill Raises Fears About Pollution, Fraud

This section is a little worrisome:

For example, it exempts oil and gas companies from Safe Drinking Water Act requirements when they inject fluids — including some carcinogens — into the earth at high pressure, a process known as hydraulic fracturing. Betty Anthony, director for exploration and production at the American Petroleum Institute, said states already regulate the process, but residents of Alabama, Virginia, West Virginia and other states have complained that it has polluted groundwater in their communities.

Meanwhile, the measure will streamline Bureau of Land Management drilling permits — even though the Bush administration already has granted a record number of permits on BLM land. Lawmakers also authorized seismic blasting in sensitive marine areas to gauge offshore oil reserves — despite a moratorium on drilling in many of those areas. And the bill will exempt petroleum well pads from storm-water regulations under the Clean Water Act. Anthony said the provision makes sense because the wells are already exempt, but critics question why the oil and gas industry, which has seen record profits in recent months, should be exempt from any aspect of environmental law.

“This bill will allow America’s most profitable companies to pollute our water supplies,” said David Alberswerth of the Wilderness Society. “They’re the kings of Capitol Hill.”

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) also managed to insert at least $500 million in subsidies over a 10-year period — with the option to double the amount — for research into deep-water oil and gas drilling, a grant that many lawmakers expect to go to the Texas Energy Center in DeLay’s home town of Sugar Land. The bill also includes royalty relief for deep-water drilling projects, a strategy that helped jump-start production in the Gulf during the 1990s.