LAKEWOOD, Colo.—About 15 percent of Colorado’s natural gas boom is playing out on federal land. It feels like 100 percent to Sally Wisely, the Bureau of Land Management’s state director.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Wisely said she understands and welcomes the public’s keen interest in what happens to public lands but doesn’t want the agency blamed for things it cannot control.
“We should be held accountable for (public lands). It’s our responsibility,” Wisely said. “But I don’t want somebody to imply that we’re responsible for things we actually have no involvement in.”
Wisely vented her frustration in an opinion piece released to the Colorado media. “Unfortunately, news reports too often give the impression that all energy development in Colorado is taking place on BLM-managed public lands, when in fact, statewide less than 15 percent of new oil and gas wells are on federal lands,” she wrote.
Of the state’s 33,357 producing wells, 4,479 are on federal land, she wrote. Statewide, nearly 6,000 well permits were approved last year and only about 700 were for federal wells.
Steve Smith of the regional office of The Wilderness Society acknowledged that the bulk of activity is on private lands.
“But I don’t think that diminishes the importance of scrutinizing the decisions about leasing and drilling on federal land. Those lands are owned by everybody,” Smith said. “And there are lots of other purposes these lands are supposed to serve in the public interest.”
Western Colorado, scene of some of the most intense development and debate, has a higher percentage of federal land than the eastern part. Nearly a quarter of the new wells on the Western Slope are on federal land.
The area is home to some of the country’s largest elk and deer herds and key habitat for sage grouse, whose numbers have plummeted across the West.
The Western Slope has gone through energy booms before and is now becoming more diverse, depending more on revenue from tourism, recreation, hunting and retirees. There’s concern that widespread energy development could hurt those parts of the economy.
“It’s a challenge,” Wisely said with a smile.
“We have to take into consideration all the resources, all their values, all their uses and try to meet the current future needs of the American people,” she said. “How the heck do you do that?”
One answer, she said, is a more “holistic” approach including both state and federal regulators.
The BLM is required to conduct rigorous environmental analyses and faces strict regulations, she said, but the state doesn’t have a comparable process, even though it is responsible for far more of the new wells.
Because the impacts on wildlife, air and water quality know no boundaries, Wisely is urging state officials to work with the BLM.
“I think we have a really good relationship with the state and we continually have an ongoing dialogue,” Wisely said.
The more communication and coordination the better, she said.
Harris Sherman, executive director of the state Department of Natural Resources, agreed.
“I think Sally’s recommendations to build on the relationship and expand our ways of communicating with each other makes good sense,” Sherman said.
Sherman and Wisely met earlier this week to discuss ways to do that. Both say that intergovernmental agreements in such areas as minimizing development’s impacts on wildlife are possible.
Plans to drill for natural gas on BLM land in two western Colorado sites, the Roan Plateau and Vermillion Basin, have been especially contentious, prompting objections from environmentalists, state officials and some residents.
Gov. Bill Ritter got more time to review BLM’s plan to open some of the federal land on the Roan Plateau to drilling only after Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., held up the Senate confirmation of the James Caswell as the new director of the national BLM. Ritter will submit his the commits by mid-December.
Wisely said Ritter’s request for more time went to the Interior secretary, rather than her office. She declined to discuss the specifics of the BLM’s 20-year management plan for the Roan Plateau except to say that her staff did a good job on the document that was seven years in the making.
“The governor is going to be giving us some his views shortly. We’re looking forward to that and we’ll take a really hard look at them,” Wisely said.
