GLENWOOD SPRINGS —Although the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has agreed to take another look at the potential air pollution from approximately 1,300 oil and gas wells in Garfield County and the surrounding region, essentially putting the projects on hold, local municipal officials say they’re not overly concerned about their towns’ economic futures, at least not yet.
“I’ve seen no red flags,” said Silt Mayor Dave Moore on Tuesday, explaining that he had read about the settlement but had not studied it in detail.
“As long as it’s just reviewing what they did earlier, it’s not going to take too long,” Moore predicted.
But if the review process becomes more involved, or takes longer than a year or so, “then it could become a matter of concern” if the local drilling industry slows down even more than it already has.
Silt was home to 57 oil and gas workers last year, according to the state’s Department of Local Affairs, which has not yet posted numbers for the current year.
DOLA is the state agency that distributes severance tax proceeds paid to the state by the oil and gas industry, and those distributions are based on the number of industry workers living in a given town or county.
