I love living in Southwest Colorado because of the unrivaled access to public lands. From Montrose to Durango, I spend my spare time exploring the San Juans, hiking, trail running and skiing with my wife, Erin.
As a veteran of the U.S. Navy Seabees, I spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting for the things that make America the great nation that it is. And what is a more fundamental part of our freedom than our public lands?
I recently learned about the methane hot spot hanging over Southwest Colorado, and about national guidelines that were created earlier this year to prevent the waste of natural gas when companies produce it on our public lands. Even though the hotspot is over Durango and not Montrose, this is an issue that impacts all Coloradans and I am writing to make sure our Senators lead the charge in helping to solve it.
Late last year, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, which manages oil and gas development on our shared public lands, finalized new standards to minimize the waste of natural gas. While it’s great these guidelines are now in place, apparently some extremists in Congress are working to throw the rules out, using a blunt tool called the Congressional Review Act.
But we need these guidelines to help clean up the pollution from drilling on public lands in New Mexico, the main contributing factor to the methane hot spot. Without these guidelines, companies will continue wasting our energy resources. Public lands shouldn’t be a partisan issue in Congress. We ought to be doing everything we can to protect them. That includes making sure that when oil and gas is produced on public lands, it’s done right and that we’re not wasting American energy resources.
I hope Sen. Cory Gardner will hear these calls and oppose efforts to get rid of the BLM methane rule by using the Congressional Review Act.
Chris Marcinek
Montrose
