Enviros to sue BLM over Roan leasing

Posted by egable on June 17th, 2008 filed in Energy development

A coalition of environmental groups intend to file a lawsuit to prevent the federal government from leasing the Roan Plateau, saying the plan will damage important wildlife habitat.

The Bureau of Land Management recently announced it would proceed with its plan to lease all the Roan’s public lands to the highest bidders on Aug. 14. In doing so, BLM has ignored the objections of Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D), Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), Reps. John Salazar (D-Colo.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.), as well as a coalition of Western Slope officials, sportsmen and environmentalists.

The lawsuit announced yesterday will seek to compel BLM to address the environmental and fiscal impact of its plan to allow energy developemnt on the Roan Plateau.

Environmentalists note that BLM has already leased the vast majority of public lands in western Colorado’s Piceance Basin (where the Roan is located), although only a fraction have been put into production. Over 90 percent of BLM lands in the Piceance Basin are leased and under control of the oil and gas industry. The public lands of Roan Plateau represent only about 1 percent of the Piceance Basin and sit as an island of undeveloped habitat and quality recreation lands amid a flood of drilling and industrial development. Drilling around the Roan is occurring at a frantic pace, and energy companies are sitting on more than a decade’s worth of unused leases and drilling permits.

Groups plan on filing the lawsuit in the next few weeks and are inviting other interested parties to join with them. The lawsuit will assert that BLM failed to properly consider alternatives that would protect the Roan’s most sensitive resources and failed to account for all of the project’s impacts to the region’s air and wildlife.

Environmentalists maintain that pending legislation in Congress would better ensure that these public lands are protected for their other values, allow energy development to happen at a measured pace, bring more revenue into the state’s coffers and safeguard the Roan’s most sensitive lands. In contrast, under BLM’s plans, even the Roan’s most critical environmental areas could be drilled — with a simple waiver from BLM.

In addition to the litigation, sportsmen and environmental groups plan to file a formal protest of the lease sale by July 30, the deadline for such filing. In a news release issued June 10, Ritter indicated that the state of Colorado will be examining its options “including a formal protest” to oppose the August lease sale.

The groups involved in the lawsuit include the Colorado Environmental Coalition, Environment Colorado, Rock the Earth and the Roaring Fork Group of the Sierra Club.