A lack of consideration for socioeconomic impacts and private landowner interests have La Plata County officials concerned about the Bureau of Land Management’s proposal to lease 6,137 acres in the HD Mountains for oil and gas development.

La Plata County commissioners on Wednesday discussed protests they wish to submit to the federal agency as the deadline for commenting on the lease sale closes on March 29.

Four parcels in question scheduled for a May 12 lease sale are in a U.S. Forest Service wilderness area southeast of Bayfield. The initial deadline for comment was March 14, but La Plata and Archuleta counties successfully petitioned the BLM for more time to review the proposal.

“The southern parcels, they have some controlled surface use as well as some roads that can be used to access the area,” county planner Brenna Kampf said. “Those have more options for developers to develop those leases.”

The county’s concerns are with two northern parcels, which would require operators to drill from adjacent private lands.

La Plata County officials want private property owners to receive notification about development plans, which is not required under Forest Service regulations.

Board members drew comparisons to the county’s prolonged negotiations with King II coal mine in Hesperus, whose operations have bothered neighbors with noise, dust and road impacts.

Commissioner Julie Westendorff said that similarly, the leasing process is multi-jurisdictional, which creates overlap and confusion.

“There are parts of this situation that cause me concern,” she said.

“This sounds a lot like how we got messed up on the GCC (King II owners) deal. BLM was handling their deal, then we said wait a second, that will increase truck traffic. This is starting to kind of look the same – here’s this giant plan, but it doesn’t look at local impacts.”

Jimbo Buickerood, public lands coordinator for the San Juan Citizens Alliance, which joined La Plata and Archuleta counties in asking for a comment extension, said the resource management plan addressing the parcels is too general and BLM’s process doesn’t allow for county-level assessment of development impacts.

Commissioners will hold a special meeting Tuesday and take a formal vote on comments they wish to submit to the federal agency.

jpace@durangoherald.com