The Daily Sentinel, GJSentinel.com
October 17, 2011, Dennis Webb

The 77,000-acre Vermillion Basin northwest of Craig is being closed to oil and gas development under a U.S. Bureau of Land Management decision released today. The agency issued a record of decision for the Little Snake Resource Management Plan in northwestern Colorado. It covers about 1.3 million acres of BLM land and another 1.1 million acres of subsurface mineral estate the Little Snake Field Office administers in Moffat, Routt and Rio Blanco counties. The BLM said the decision carries forward decisions in the proposed plan released in August 2010, including the Vermillion Basin closure. In a previous draft proposal during the Bush administration, the BLM had favored opening the basin to drilling under a restrictive approach minimizing surface disturbance to 1 percent of the basin at any time. That’s an approach the BLM also took in leasing the Roan Plateau near Rifle. Oil and gas development on the Roan subsequently has been put on hold due to a lawsuit by conservation groups....

http://www.gjsentinel.com/breaking/articles/vermillion-basin-off-limits-to-drilling-in-decision