ROAN GROANS
Groups Protest Roan Plan
By David Frey, 10-18-06
Environmentalists, hunting and fishing groups and a Colorado legislator are protesting the plan to open up western Colorado's Roan Plateau to drilling rigs.
Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., says the plan "flies in the face of thousands of public comments, testimony and government resolutions" that called for protecting the top of the plateau from natural gas drilling, reports the Associated Press.
DeGette and others argued the public didn't get a cane to comment on the plan chosen by the Bureau of Land Management, which was a blend of varous proposals. The BLM had rejected a call by Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., in June to extend the comment period so the public could weigh in.
The future of the plateau has been hotly contested as environmentalists joined forces with wildlife groups, outfitters and area town governments who opposed drilling on top of the plateau, an area rich in natural gas and home to deer, elk, rare plants and native Colorado cutthroat trout.
The BLM's proposal adhered closely to a state Department of Natural Resources plan, staging and clustering drilling activity so no more than 1 percent of the 34,758 acres on top would be disturbed at a time.
Even so, environmentalists argue the plan would threaten fish and wildlife and degrade wilderness characteristics. They say the plan will drive out hunters and fails to fully disclose the impacts that could come from drilling.
"Roan Plateau provides incredible recreation lands that are important to local communities," said Claire Bastable, of the Colorado Mountain Club. "But BLM has shaped a plan that places oil and gas development over all these other uses of this popular landscape."
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