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Montezuma panel to advise BLM on wells

Commissioners strongly oppose oil-and-gas master lease plan

Montezuma County commissioners plan to form a committee to advise the Bureau of Land Management on an oil-and-gas master lease plan.

If its conditions are met, the county said the seven-member committee would be composed of a commissioner, a conservation community member, a representative of the oil-and-gas industry, three residents with ties to public lands and a resident with private surface land and federal minerals rights.

Montezuma County has opposed the master leasing plan, arguing that most of the BLM land is off-limits to oil-and-gas development anyway, including the Mesa Verde escarpment and Weber and Menefee wilderness study areas.

The escarpment has a no-surface occupancy status for drilling, but underlying federal minerals could be accessed from neighboring private land with directional drilling.

A BLM area that could be developed for oil and gas is the Phil’s World biking park east of Cortez. The county said mitigation plans can limit conflict, but a master lease plan isn’t necessary.

In a tough-worded letter to BLM state director Ruth Welch on Oct. 5, commissioners Larry Don Suckla and James Lambert expressed dissatisfaction with outside environmental groups influencing local decision-making. Commissioner Keenan Ertel was out of town when the letter was sent, but he has also has spoken against a BLM master lease plan for the county.

According to the letter to Welch, “Our rub comes from the conservation community who love to paint local officials as uncaring, inflexible, unwilling to listen, blinded by money and willing to give away all of the farms and ranches in the county to the industry.”

The county asserted that it represents its constituents, and will not “be doing the environmental community’s bidding.”

The commissioners also stated that they are open to discussions about protecting resources, though they distrust environmentalists’ intentions.

“We are frankly exasperated with the conservation/environmental community, as it seems that nothing ever satisfied them except an outright ban on oil-and-gas production (we think we can add grazing to that list too),” the letter stated. “The segment of the community appears to be able to usurp the democratic process and do an end-run around our elected officials by crying or whining until the BLM caves in to their demands under the pretense that local elected officials are not responsive to their needs.”

Although opposed to the master lease proposal, the commissioners said they will participate, with the understanding that the plan could still be dropped.

“We still stand behind our position that the MLP is not warranted in Montezuma County,” the letter stated. “Because non-participation could disenfranchise the majority of the citizens we represent ... we are willing to consider participating in the community involvement process (with conditions).”

Montezuma County committee conditions

Montezuma County commissioners agreed to discuss a master lease plan under the following conditions:

The county may oppose any BLM decision “and take any legal measure necessary to protect the citizens and the county from resulting BLM actions.”

Full public disclosure at the beginning of each meeting of all taxpayer costs of the MLP process.

Full public disclosure at the beginning of each meeting on how the planning effort was initiated, including its advocates and petitions supporting it.

BLM present recommendations on the future of county oil-and-gas before the recommendations to the public or any other advocacy group or individuals.

BLM will coordinate with commissioners and review the county MLP or recommendations with the board before the BLM makes a final decision or makes any information available to the public or any other group.

BLM accepts that the county prepare an MLP or series of recommendations based on input through the BLM’s Southwest Resource Advisory Committee.

BLM follows congressional mandates to keep apprised of state, local, and tribal land-use plans, and document how that is done in written form, when considering federal plans or policy.

BLM provide for input by local government, and make all practical effort to resolve conflicts between federal and local policy.

Oct 12, 2015
Phil’s World at heart of planning battle


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