Red Lodge Clearinghouse

Sen. Ken Salazar and Reps. Mark Udall and John Salazar said they will introduce a bill when Congress returns later this month to address the controversy over the Roan Plateau.

Last year, the Bureau of Land Management proposed allowing up to 1,570 natural gas wells atop the Roan Plateau to tap an area the Colorado Oil and Gas Association says could hold 9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to power 4 million homes for the next 20 years.

But environmentalists and the state's Democrats, including Gov. Bill Ritter, have criticized the plan. Last month, Ritter disappointed environmentalists looking for a total ban by saying he supported eventual oil and gas operations, so long as BLM set aside more land from any activity (Land Letter, Jan. 3).

BLM's plan covered 70 percent of the 73,062 acres owned by the federal government, but critics say the remaining areas are the most sensitive. BLM would set aside about 21,000 acres as environmentally sensitive, while Ritter and the new bill would increase that to about 36,000 acres.

"I don't trust the federal government to do what it says to minimize impacts atop the Roan Plateau," Sen. Salazar told reporters on a conference call from Denver.

In addition, the bill would transfer $40 million to $60 million from the Anvil Points oil shale trust fund to the state for land-and-water conservation. The trust fund collects revenue from production in the former Naval Oil Shale Reserve to be used for cleanup of the Anvil Points Superfund site. There is currently more than $80 million in the account, but the cleanup is expected to cost under $40 million.

The lawmakers will also attempt to reverse language in the fiscal 2008 omnibus spending bill that reduced the state's share of oil and gas leasing revenues on federal lands from 50 percent to 48 percent. "This was an administration tactic trying to figure out how to balance the budget," Rep. Salazar said.

Rep. Salazar acknowledged lawmakers would likely have to add funds for other states in order to gain support.

The Roan Plateau fight consumed the attention of the Colorado delegation over the past year. Sen. Salazar was unsuccessful in an attempt to add language to the omnibus to bar surface drilling on the Roan Plateau in fiscal 2008. An attempt by Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) to divert the Anvil Points revenue to the state also failed.

Allard is retiring at the end of the 110th Congress; Udall is among those seeking the Senate seat.

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