B.L.M. approves drilling on the Roan Plateau

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B.L.M. approves drilling on the Roan Plateau

Posted:

March 14, 2008 06:21 AM

 

BY CRYSTAL COSTA

The B.L.M. Announced Thursday that it will allow the top of the Roan Plateau to be leased to the oil and gas industry.

This has many Colorado conservation groups angry. They say the B.L.M. Didn't listen to Governor Bill Ritter's suggestions to make thousands of acres "sensitive wildlife areas".

Joe Neuhof with the Colorado Environmental Coalition believes, "People don't want to see it developed. People want to see it protected on the top and see the resources extracted in a more responsible manner."

The Interior Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management advised Governor Ritter that more than half of the plateaus' federal land will be off limits to ground disturbance. This land is north of Interstate 70 between Parachute and Rifle.

The Governor asked that 36,000 acres be set aside as sensitive wildlife areas. Instead, the B.L.M. designated 21,000 acres as "areas of critical environmental concern". Nuehof calls it a slap in the face.

The decision restricts energy development to no more than one percent of the remaining land at any one time. Development will be confined to corridors along existing roads.

Steven Hall with the Bureau of Land Management said, "This is an unbelievably restrictive plan. No more than 350 acres out of 35,000 acres can be disturbed at any give point in time, so your talking about a very small footprint for oil and gas development in an area."

The B.L.M said it got input from the public and experts before coming to this decision. Development will be conducted in a staged, ridge by ridge approach with well pads more than half miles apart to minimize wildlife habitat fragmentation. An estimated nine trillion cubic feet of natural gas lies under the federal lands in the roan area.

"I think until Americans decide that they don't want to have natural gas resources, or don't want to have gasoline for our cars, we are always going to face the challenge of how do you balance extracting those natural resources that our economy runs on versus protecting those places in nature we all appreciate and enjoy," said Hall.

Revenue from oil and natural gas sales could be over 850 million dollars over the next 20 years. Many conservation groups are considering legislative action to protect the top of the plateau from energy drilling.