The Democrats coming to Denver next week won’t have to bother with selecting a president and vice president, because they’ll already have been chosen. So they have more time to sample the Rocky Mountain West.
We’re proud to show off our magnificent state, with incredible mountains, tumbling streams and glimpses of wildlife, awesome sweeps of the Eastern Plains stretching to eternity, our historic mining towns, memorable ranches and open spaces.
But we’d also like them to learn about the dangerous decisions that the federal government makes that can devastate this wonderful place, the jeopardy caused by the ballooning growth of the Rocky Mountain West and the demands of the extractive energy industries.
Colorado has 66 million acres, of which just 38 million acres are privately owned. One surprise: You may own the land but someone else may own the mineral rights, and may dig or drill close to your home.
The state’s population grew from 2 million in 1970 to 4 million in 2000, and 7 million are projected to live here by 2030. Agriculture provides more than $13 billion to the Colorado economy, but we’ve lost more than 2.89 million acres of ag land to development since 1992.
Mother Nature provides a scant 9 to 14 inches of precipitation in the West per year. The 1922 Colorado River Compact compounds the problem, giving the lower-basin states (Arizona, California and Nevada) more water than usually falls in the upper-basin states (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico).
We have 8,848 operating gas wells in Mesa, Rio Blanco, Garfield and Moffat counties alone, with projections for 50,000 more by 2035. What’s the water source for those operations? How much sacrifice does Colorado make for oil and gas when even industry forecasts say those reserves will dry up in 20 to 30 years?
The feds ignore Colorado’s concerns over the extractive industries. On Aug. 14, the Bureau of Land Management leased 55,186 acres of land for 1,570 oil and gas wells on top of the Roan Plateau, a remarkable piece of relatively untouched land, rich with wildlife. The sale brought $114 million, with the big bidder a venture capital group, not drilling operators.
Congress should be protecting the public lands from such destructive and long-lasting contracts.
Another major land grab is in the southeast corner of the state, where Fort Carson wanted to increase its 235,606-acre Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site by 418,000 acres, displacing dozens of ranchers and farmers who have worked the land for decades.
Protecting our beautiful state takes vigilance and foresight, here and in Washington.
Denver Post columnist Joanne Ditmer has been writing for The Post since 1962.
