ASPEN – — Allegations of bid-rigging are at the heart of Pitkin County’s latest objection to activity that would keep alive oil and gas leases in the Lake Ridge area of Thompson Divide, outside of Carbondale.
County commissioners last week OK’d a draft of a letter to two national forest supervisors and Jerry Strahan, fluid minerals branch chief for the Bureau of Land Management. Local congressional representatives and others are to receive copies of the letter.
The BLM is considering a proposal to “unitize” 16 leases held by Houston-based SG Interests in the Thompson Divide area, plus two others — a move opponents believe would allow the company to drill one test well and hold on to all of the leases for the foreseeable future.
The county already has gone on record twice opposing the extension of what it termed “old, inactive and soon-to-sunset” leases held by SG Interests. This spring, the Thompson Divide Coalition offered to pay more than $2.5 million for leases to six different oil and gas companies, including SG, in order to prevent drilling in the region.
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