The reversal strikes a Bush-era decision that left huge amounts of public land vulnerable to damaging oil and gas exploration

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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's decision last week to reverse a Bush-era wilderness policy should be a relief to those who favor a balanced and sensible approach to wildland preservation.

The move, announced Thursday in Denver, supersedes a flawed 2003 decision and returns to the federal Bureau of Land Management the authority to identify and suggest new areas for permanent protection.

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Before the spill, the Obama administration lifted the moratorium on drilling in U.S. coastal waters as a way to address the country's energy needs. But most Americans now want fewer offshore wells (31 percent) or the amount kept at current levels (41 percent).
 

Perhaps as a consequence of the spill, public support for oil and gas drilling in general is also significantly lower than it was a year ago.
 

During the past several months, while Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act has been grabbing most of the headlines and capturing a great deal of attention in Montana, another collaborative effort to preserve one of the state’s last best places, long in the making, was finally unveiled.

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Your editorial (“Energy-dependent forever?” Feb. 16) defended drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by using propaganda often cited by oil industries and recently parroted by Gov. Sarah Palin.