Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management gave Grand County residents a reason to sigh with relief.
The agency delayed auctioning oil and gas lease rights for more than 31,000 acres of Grand County land after residents raised concerns about environmental and other impacts.
The BLM was poised to rely on a 15-year-old resource plan in determining whether to go forward with energy development in an area that had not previously undergone any significant exploration.
A delay makes sense since the federal agency is in the middle of conducting a new assessment. A draft of it is due out this summer.
“We acknowledge that, with little federal oil-and-gas leasing in Grand County in recent years, all parties involved will benefit from additional discussions and outreach on the federal oil-and-gas leasing process,” BLM deputy state director Lynn Rust said last week.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife also had expressed worries about potential adverse impacts on deer, wintering elk and sage grouse, a species that is eligible for federal designation as endangered.
Grand County is a fast-growing area that has seen its fortunes rise with increasing tourism and as a market for vacation homes.
It makes sense to approach energy exploration cautiously and armed with the latest information available. We’re glad to see that the BLM was sensitive to the concerns of local residents and we hope to see the process continue in the same tenor.
