Washington – Sen. Ken Salazar accused the Bush administration Tuesday of running roughshod over Westerners’ concerns about the region’s oil and gas boom, saying fears about pollution, wildlife and property rights could spark a “revolution” against drilling.
“With the rush to lease every acre of land as quickly as possible, we’re seeing local communities start standing up against it,” said Salazar, D-Colo. “We are seeing a potential revolution against oil and gas development.”
Salazar cited the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s decision to allow drilling in the watershed of Grand Junction and Palisade, its refusal to release a plan for drilling on top of the Roan Plateau and the push for a state ballot initiative to bolster landowners’ rights as proof of discontent in normally pro-development Western Slope communities.
BLM Director Kathleen Clarke denied ignoring local concerns, but said her agency must also help the nation meet its energy needs.
“There are local issues to be dealt with and there are also national needs,” Clarke told Salazar at a hearing Tuesday of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She said the agency strives to include community leaders and local elected officials in its decision-making.
Duane Zavadil of Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. said Salazar was exaggerating frustrations of the region’s residents.
“There’s a perspective that oil and gas will overrun the West, but we really occupy only a really small part of the West,” said Zavadil, who came to Washington Tuesday to testify on behalf of the Independent Petroleum Association of the Mountain States.
Under the Bush administration, the BLM has issued about 24,000 permits to drill for oil and gas in the West, twice as many as in the last five years of the Clinton administration.
The reason, said Clarke, is that the nation’s demand for oil and gas is expected to increase 25 percent over the next decade.
Salazar pointed to a company called Antero Resources, which he said worked with landowners in the Silt area on where wells, roads and pipelines should be located.
“There, we have a peaceful situation,” he said.
But in February, the BLM leased land for drilling near creeks that supply water to Grand Junction and Palisade. City leaders fear the drilling could damage water quality. Salazar asked the BLM to delay the lease sale, but the agency declined.
Salazar also pressed the BLM to release details of its plan to drill the top of the Roan Plateau and get more feedback from local residents before making a decision.
Mike Soraghan can be reached at 202-662-8730 or msoraghan@denverpost.com.
