Are Environmental Planning Act Hearings Stacked Against Public?

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A task force established by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) has held four hearings, purportedly on ways to improve the National Environmental Policy Act. But the testimony has been largely from industry interests who find NEPA requirements burdensome, OMB Watch reports. A number of citizens who sought to raise environmental concerns were told they could not testify. And after 200 environmentalists showed up to protest at the first hearing in Seattle, advance notice of hearings was kept minimal, OMB Watch said. (9/7/05)