The Bureau of Land Management is offering hundreds of acres next to McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area for oil and gas development, and is considering whether to lease thousands of acres in the same vicinity.
The agency’s November oil and gas lease sale includes a 480-acre parcel adjacent to McInnis Canyons on its north side, and a nearby, 320-acre parcel. The parcels are northwest of Mack and are generally private land with underlying federal minerals.
However, the BLM has deferred decisions on leasing some 11,500 acres in that same area. In some cases that’s because of proximity to Highway 139, a designated scenic byway, and in others it’s because the land is used by pronghorn as winter habitat, said BLM spokeswoman Erin Curtis.
Luke Schafer, northwest organizer for the Colorado Environmental Coalition, said his group hasn’t decided whether it will protest the leases near the conservation area, but he finds them “curious.”
He worries about the drilling’s potential visual and air quality impacts on the conservation area and nearby communities such as Fruita.
“The impacts not withstanding, is it worthwhile in the scheme of things to potentially allow oil and gas development in that area? … I’m not sure. I think the question needs to be asked,” Schafer said.
No drilling is permitted in the conservation area, but Curtis said the legislation creating it also specified that drilling-free buffer zones would not be created around the area.
Nevertheless, she said, the BLM took the conservation area’s proximity into consideration in deciding whether to lease the parcels. She said the part of the conservation area near the parcels requires the least restrictions to protect views because those views already include Interstate 70.
Schafer said he hadn’t been aware of a lot of oil and gas being in that area. Curtis said the BLM leases only parcels that others have nominated as candidates for leasing.
She said the BLM will take a closer look at the other parcels that were nominated in that area to determine if they should be leased, and if so, whether more protective measures should be attached to the leases. She said the BLM decided to defer decisions until it finishes updating its management plan for the Grand Junction Field Office, a process that could take until early 2011.
The BLM’s quarterly lease sale is Nov. 12. For the first time in Colorado, it will include geothermal leasing, involving a parcel of about 800 acres next to Mount Princeton Hot Springs Resort west of Buena Vista.
Scott McInnis, a Republican candidate for governor and the former congressman after whom McInnis Canyons is named, said he would have to leave it to the experts in the BLM to consider questions such as visual impacts of nearby drilling.
But he voiced wariness over the idea of possibly preventing such drilling, noting that the conservation area is near communities as well.
“If you logically take what they’re saying, how should we address home and restaurants and things in Fruita or Mack or Loma?” he said.
Email DENNIS WEBB
Comments
By Love it
Oct 28, 2009 7:06 PM | Link to this
It is about time! I can't wait to seal off the canyons to the public. Sooner or later the whole Monument will be closed off too. Yes! I grew up here and I always thought to myself how nice it would be to see houses and oil rigs all over the Monument. It just looks to plain and natural without all the industry and houses up there. Last year I saw a heard of Bighorn up there. What in the heck do these critters think they are doing wondering around up there in the wild? Someone should shoot them. Ever since the big city Californians migrated here it has been a pleasure to live here. The politics have totally changed. Especially for the high dollar Californians who can buy what ever they want. They brought out all of their trash, laws and politics to good ole Grand Junction. I love you people so much. Thank you for turning this place into another metropolitan arm pit. It's just like Disneyland. Eventually the entire Rocky mountain region will be filled with these people and they will turn us all into a new California. I can't wait. This is exciting. Where will you all run to after you destroy this place? Seems like you are running out of room. Maybe they can take over Canada too. That would be great. I hope I live to see that as well. And yes the BLM is being bought by the Californians. Don't be stupid people.
By drunky
Oct 27, 2009 8:46 PM | Link to this
So, TLC, perhaps it is time to step up to the plate and up-educate yourself, if all you bring to the table in the form of employment is driving a water truck or working on a rig, then prepare for the boom and bust lifestyle. Did you really think the boom would last forever? You probably still think that it was the rules that crashed the gas boom and not the spot price of natural gas.
By drunky
Oct 27, 2009 8:42 PM | Link to this
BS, they won't let me ride my mountain bike on pollack canyon, however, if I wanted to drill a gas well there, they would be falling over themselves to let me, good job Bureau of Land Mis-Management
By podocarp
Oct 27, 2009 7:58 PM | Link to this
I am an enviro wacko. I don't wish drilling in proposed wilderness areas, and next to national monuments & parks, etc. I often float the Ruby Horsethief stretch of the Colorado through the NCA. But I've got to say, these leases are ACROSS THE INTERSTATE from the NCA. I don't see a problem here. Looking north, they will be in the foreground of the view north across the barren Mancos shale of the Grand Valley, with the scenic Book Cliffs beyond. So what? It's a view that while pretty, is not heart-stopping.
Hey, TLC; why not bring a little brain power to your next posting. Love, your local enviro wacko.
By TLC
Oct 27, 2009 6:57 PM | Link to this
Drill baby drill. Forget the enviro wackos, we need jobs.
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