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Colorado Dems seek rider to block Roan Plateau leasing |
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Two Colorado Democrats want Congress to block the Bureau of Land
Management from leasing natural gas-rich areas on the Roan Plateau.
Reps. Mark Udall and John Salazar will seek a rider in the fiscal 2008
Interior Appropriations bill preventing BLM from implementing its lease
plan for the 73,000-acre Roan Plateau Planning Area near Rifle, Colo.,
until September 2008.
The delay could give BLM time to revise the plan or provide
environmentalists time to challenge the proposal in court, before
leases are sold.
"This is one of the only approaches to give enough time to let
cooler heads prevail," said Brian O'Donnell, public lands director for
Trout Unlimited. "There's been a real rush to drill there, and if
Congress doesn't get involved you could see lease sales on the Roan
Plateau in a couple of months."
Last September, BLM unveiled a plan it believes will allow
natural gas development atop the plateau while protecting
environmentally sensitive areas. BLM said it would place limits on
drilling and production for companies seeking to remove the estimated 9
trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas, but the plan would
still allow activity on nearly 35,000 acres atop Roan Plateau
(E&ENews PM, Sept. 7).
Salazar told reporters BLM did not allow adequate public
comment after the final environmental impact statement (EIS) was
released and noted several towns in the area, including Glenwood
Springs and Rifle asked Congress to intervene. BLM received nearly
75,000 public comments on its draft plan released in late 2004.
"We feel this is basically the only tool available to us to
allow for proper public comment," Salazar said. "We're not saying this
can never be done, we're just saying this can buy us a year so the
public can have more input."
Under the final EIS, BLM would limit activity on top of Roan
Plateau so that no more than 1 percent of the acreage would be
disturbed at any one time. BLM's draft resource management plan from
2004 would have allowed about 2,400 wells to be drilled around the
plateau and as many as 50 wells on the top.
BLM would also create wildlife seclusion areas, protect water
resources and the Colorado River cutthroat trout and preserve natural
views from communities and Interstate 70. However, more than 90 percent
of the natural gas in the planning area could still be recovered
Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks
(D-Wash.) has not indicated whether he will support the request,
Salazar said.
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