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Despite the Bureau of Land Management theoretically moving its new headquarters to Colorado in order to be closer to the lands it manages, the agency last week issued a final resource management plan (RMP) for the western part of the state that ignored years of local input while paving the way for unfettered oil and gas drilling.
The final RMP allows for oil and gas drilling on more than half of the 675,000 acres of public land it covers, and coal extraction on another 371,000 acres.
Gunnison, Ouray, and San Miguel counties all objected to the BLM's draft plan, along with numerous conservation groups and 42,000 public commenters. U.S. Senator Michael Bennet blasted the agency, calling the resource management plan “completely inadequate.”
“Throughout the process, counties and local stakeholders recommended changes to the plan,” Bennet said in a statement. "But they were met with a lack of transparency and eleventh hour changes from the BLM. Rather than do the hard work to build consensus and balance interests, the Trump Administration’s energy dominance agenda in Washington overruled the concerns of Colorado counties.”
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We are disappointed the BLM is moving forward with a plan that clearly disrespects the wishes of the North Fork community, ignores a decade’s worth of community input and endangers our economic future and our public lands and waters — along with the farms, ranches, vineyards and recreation businesses that depend on them.”
