More than a few concerns

Oil rigs can be seen in operation along the roadside near Durango. The Bureau of Land Management’s Tres Rios Field Office, headquartered in Dolores, manages 664,000 acres of public lands and 320,000 acres of federal minerals under nonfederal lands, as well as more than 800,000 acres of minerals on tribal lands. The acreage available for oil and gas development under its recently released final Resource Management Plan amounts to more than 92 percent of those lands./Photo by Jennaye Derge

Local leaders, environmental groups voice disappointment with BLM plan

by Tracy Chamberlin

Disappointing. That’s the word. The one repeated over and over when talking about the final plan.

“What could have been an example for how (the Bureau of Land Management) works with affected communities to ensure their values, interests and health are protected,” Jimbo Buickerood, public lands coordinator for the San Juan Citizens Alliance, said in a statement, “has instead devolved into a lowest-common denominator planning document that provides woefully insufficient protections.”

In September 2013, the Bureau of Land Management’s Tres Rios Field Office, which manages hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands and mineral interests in Southwest Colorado, released its draft Resource Management Plan, meant to replace its 30-year-old predecessor.

Several groups, some of whom had been a part of the process all along, voiced concerns. Whether it was an issue with the potential for harming sage grouse habitat or the number of acres available for oil and gas development, those who chose to file an official protest had until early November 2013 to submit their concerns. The bureau’s response to those protests was filed Feb. 27 of this year.

In the end: Oil and gas group makes final recommendations

When the gavel dropped for the last time, the group had only nine suggestions. Not one of which addressed the reason they all came together in the first place.

The Oil and Gas Task Force, established by Gov. John Hickenlooper last fall, ended its six-month endeavor Feb. 24 by sending the governor nine recommendations.

What was missing from the list, though, was an item addressing the reason the Task Force was created: the desire of local governments to exercise greater control over oil and gas operations and to set stricter standards than the state requires.

Hickenlooper formed the group in an effort to head off a November ballot measure that would have given local authorities more control over setbacks – the required distance between wells and homes, schools and other occupied structures.

Rather than face a massive statewide battle, the governor established the Task Force with representatives from industry, government and environmental groups.

La Plata County Commissioner Gwen Lachelt was selected to be co-chair, alongside XTO Energy president Randy Cleveland.

“We absolutely have to increase local governmental authority in Colorado,” Lachelt explained. “That ended up not being one of our recommendations … It was just really disappointing.”

The recommendations, which had to be approved by a two-thirds majority of the 19-member group, offered broad ideas but little in the way of specifics.

One unanimous recommendation encourages collaboration between local governments, well operators, and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, or COGCC, when it comes to well location and urban planning.

The group also unanimously approved a recommendation to create a compliance assistance program, meant to help operators and inspectors navigate what the Task Force called “complicated and ever-changing operating rules and policies.”

Recommendations laying out specific rules for traffic, noise, air quality or cost for local regulatory enforcement, were not approved. Lachelt said there are too many grey areas when it comes to the state regulations on these issues.

“We really need to do something meaningful for the people of Colorado,” she added.

– Tracy Chamberlin

One of Buickerood’s primary concerns was how the BLM did not even respond to many of the protests. “The (BLM) was not responsive to the community at large,” he said.

More than 20 different organizations, including state agencies, industry representatives, water districts, conservation groups, municipalities and more, voiced more than 100 specific points of protest with the draft Resource Management Plan. Only three were addressed, and only one was granted in part, the result of what the BLM called a “procedural error.”

It refers to Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, or ACECs. These are lands considered particularly valuable and, therefore, qualified for special management. Reasons could be they are home to a threatened species, like the sage grouse, or encompass cultural and archeological resources, like Mesa Verde.

In 2007, during the draft plan process, 19 areas were nominated by various groups to be designated areas of critical environmental concern. According to the BLM, only four of those nominees were included in the draft plan. The remaining 15 were left out, which meant they could not be considered for ACEC designation in the final plan.

“To correct this oversight, (the BLM) will evaluate the protection of the additional 15 potential ACECs in a future plan amendment,” the final plan reads. “(The BLM) will not approve activities in these areas that would impair the potential relevant and important values identified … until a determination is made.”

Exactly when in the future those areas would be evaluated is not addressed.

Meanwhile, there are no interim protections in place, according to Buickerood. “The years go by without the resource being protected.”

Shannon Borders, BLM public affairs specialist, said it’s unusual for this kind of procedural error to occur and remedying it is one of her top priorities.

“As we move forward working with individuals on specific projects, the discussions will continue,” she said.

Among the 20 organizations to file protests was La Plata County. At issue was the idea of a Master Leasing Plan, or MLP, which is a plan for oil and gas development on sensitive lands within the BLM’s jurisdiction. These plans can help identify and address potential conflicts, maintain the value of natural resources or even pinpoint lease stipulations.

“I just think it’s a huge missed opportunity,” explained

La Plata County Commissioner Gwen Lachelt.

Lachelt said BLM officials sat down at the table with county officials several times since June 2013. They were able to voice their desire for a master leasing plan, but those requests fell on deaf ears.

“It’s very disappointing this plan lacks that analysis,” she said.

Both Lachelt and Buickerood also expressed disappointment with the more than 800,000 acres available for oil and gas development across the eight counties the Tres Rios manages, including La Plata, San Juan, Dolores, Archuleta, San Miguel, Hinsdale, Montezuma and Montrose.

The Tres Rios office, headquartered in Dolores, doesn’t just manage 664,000 acres of public lands, it also manages federal minerals under nonfederal lands, or “split estate,” which is about 320,000 acres of nonfederal property; as well as what’s called “trust responsibility” for the management of minerals on 800,000 acres of tribal lands.

The acreage available for oil and gas development under the final Resource Management Plan released Feb. 27 amounts to more than 92 percent of those lands.

“They’ve made every acre of split estate available for development,” Lachelt said.

One positive note, according to Buickerood, is a requirement for pitless or closed-loop drilling on federal lands.

Pitless drilling is a system where, rather than using reserve pits to hold fluids and waste from drilling, tanks are used to separate the liquids and solids, allowing toxic drilling waste to be transferred and disposed of off-site. The pitless process reduces the footprint, impact and resources required at the drilling site.

“That’s a real improvement,” Buickerood said.

However, this process only applies to public lands, he explained. The more than 300,000 private acres open to oil and gas development do not have the same protections.

Buickerood said rather than a community-based plan built from the ground up, the final Resource Management Plan is a bureaucratic document built from the top down.

At this point in the process, those who object to the final plan have two choices: litigate or act as a watchdog.

“It’s land we all own,” Buickerood said. “… it’s unfortunate.”

For more information or to view the Resource Management Plan, visit www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/sjplc.html.