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Release Date: August 14, 2008
The Bush administration Thursday auctioned off more than 55,000 acres of oil and natural gas lease parcels on public land atop the Roan Plateau, a vital island of wildlife habitat and quiet amid a vast area of industrial natural gas development north of Interstate 70. Ignoring nearly 90,000 public pleas to the Bureau of Land Management to keep the Roan Plateau free of drilling rigs, the Bush administration caved to the greed of the oil and natural gas industry at a time when there is greater natural gas supply than demand. "This sale is the ultimate symbol of the heavy thumb of the energy industry and the Bush administration crushing the will and needs of local communities and drowning out the voices of citizens concerned about public health and air and water quality," said Duke Cox of Palisade, an area homebuilder and former Silt resident who has seen first hand the damage the energy industry can do to local communities. Vital to Colorado's sustainable $2.5 billion hunting and angling industries, the Roan Plateau is home to high-quality wildlife habitat on its top and critical winter range at its base. "Recklessly drilling the Roan will severely damage some of the best wildlife habitat in northwest Colorado," said John Gale, regional representative of the National Wildlife Federation. "The wildlife habitat on the plateau's top and the critical winter range below the rim help support the West's largest migratory deer herd as well as Rocky Mountain elk, Colorado River cutthroat trout an dozens of other native species. Because of those wildlife resources, the Roan is a key ingredient to the quality of life that attracts new, clean businesses as well as retirees to the state." Many thousands of acres of public land around the Roan Plateau are already producing natural gas, and more than 25,000 new natural gas wells are projected to be drilled in the region over the next two decades. Yet, 70 percent of the public lands already leased for oil and natural gas in Colorado are not producing, and 70 percent of the drilling permits already issued in Colorado aren't being used. "There is no need to rush into a place so unique and sensitive as the Roan Plateau," said Duke Cox, a Palisade homebuilder and chair of Western Colorado Congress's oil and gas committee. "Drilling the Roan just isn't worth the cost to local communities whose roads, schools, housing, law enforcement water supplies and air quality are overburdened by the relentless needs of industry. What's more, whatever the revenue that might come to the state today from Roan Plateau gas supplies, it'll be higher in the future. Take that to the bank." And, Cox said, drilling the Roan Plateau won't do anything to reduce gasoline prices at the pump because the primary product the industry wants to extract from the Roan is natural gas, not oil. Many local governments, including the mayors of Glenwood Springs and Rifle, which sits directly below the Roan Plateau, support keeping drilling rigs off the plateau partly because energy development is straining their local economies. The city of Rifle's five-year infrastructure needs exceed $77 million because of the energy boom, which has strained its water, wastewater, transportation, public services and other infrastructure. Citizens who have urged the Bush administration to maintain the plateau as an island of quiet and wildness feel they've been given short shrift by the federal government. "It is wrong for federal officials to ignore the wishes of Coloradans from every walk of life who support reasonable protection for the state's wildlife habitat," said TJ Brown, field director of the Colorado Environmental Coalition. "This lease sale is undeniable proof that to the Bush administration, absolutely nothing is too sacred to be industrialized in order for the richest companies in the world to make another buck." Available spokespeople: Bob Elderkin, Colorado Mule Deer Association: (970) 948-9081 Duke Cox, Palisade homebuilder and chair, Western Colorado Congress Oil and Gas Committee: (970) 379-3649 John Gale, regional representative, National Wildlife Federation: (303) 441-5156 T.J. Brown, Colorado Environmental Coalition: (303) 405-6706 |
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