Forest Service Oil Rule Criticized as Muzzling Local Officials

A US Forest Service oil and gas rule is drawing criticism from environmental groups, who say it prevents local national forest officials from restricting oil drilling in areas with endangered species and on other sensitive lands.

Those fears are playing out in southeast Alabama’s Conecuh National Forest, northeast of Pensacola, Fla., where the Forest Service in December finalized a plan to keep 81,000 acres open to oil and gas leasing, said April Lipscomb, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, which filed objections to the plan Feb. 2.

The Conecuh National Forest has just one ...