Oct 16, 2006 9:32 pm US/Mountain
DeGette Protests Roan Plateau Energy Plan
DENVER (AP) ―
A management plan for western Colorado's Roan Plateau promoted by state and federal officials as balancing demands for energy with protecting the environment drew protests Monday from Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and 14 conservation, hunting and fishing groups.
The formal protests filed with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will be considered as the agency finalizes the decision on managing the 73,602 acres of federal land on and around the plateau.
The plateau, which straddles Garfield and Rio Blanco counties, is rich in natural gas and oil shale. It's also home to such wildlife as elk, deer, mountain lions, peregrine falcons, bears and rare, native Colorado trout.
Several area communities, hunters, anglers and environmentalists have urged the BLM to keep drilling off the top of the plateau. There are a few wells on private land.
DeGette wrote in her protest that the final management plan released in September "flies in the face of thousands of public comments, testimony and government resolutions" seeking protection for the plateau's top. She said the type of development proposed threatens the area's wilderness qualities.
DeGette and other protesters also argue that the public didn't get to comment on the option chosen by the BLM in the final environmental impact statement. The BLM had said it planned to include an option that was a blend of proposals in the draft environmental impact statement.
In June, Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., asked the Interior Department in June to extend the comment period so the public could comment on the modified plan. No extension was approved.
In a draft of the plan released in 2004, the BLM said it preferred a proposal to defer drilling on the top until 80 percent of the wells below the plateau's rim were developed -- a process estimated to take 16 years.
The revised proposal, which includes suggestions from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, would stage and cluster development so that no more than 1 percent of the 34,758 acres on top of the plateau would be disturbed at any one time.
The BLM projected 193 well pads and 1,570 wells in all over 20 years, including 13 pads and 210 wells on top. Wells would be clustered on pads spaced a half-mile apart, with one pad per 160 acres.
DeGette said the compromise was developed after the formal public participation process.
"I strongly urge the BLM to solicit further public comment on the (Department of Natural Resources) plan," DeGette said.
Environmental and outdoors groups said in their protests that the BLM failed to analyze a full range of alternatives, violating its mandate to accommodate multiple use of public land.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
