Boundaries for a master leasing plan for oil and gas development in eastern Montezuma and western La Plata counties has been approved by the Washington office of the Bureau of Land Management, officials said Monday.
Based on public input from a year of meetings, approved boundaries of the MLP footprint have shrunk from 326,000 acres to 71,000 acres, reported Connie Clementson, field manager for the Tres Rios BLM office, in Dolores.
“The BLM listened to the public, and we decided to proceed with an MLP with decreased acreage,” Clementson told Montezuma County Commissioners on Monday. She also briefed La Plata County commissioners on Monday
Of the 71,000 acres within the MLP boundary, only 50,000 acres have federal minerals. Of that, 28,000 acres are BLM surface lands, and 22,000 acres are split estate, where the surface is private but the subsurface federal minerals are partly managed by the BLM.
The remaining acreage is private land with private minerals that the BLM does not manage.
“What we heard from the public is to focus on protecting the Cortez Special Recreation Management Area, Phil’s World, and the Mesa Verde escarpment,” Clementson said. “In La Plata County, we heard that the area to focus protection on is the Hesperus area.”
The boundaries of the MLP are separated into five distinct areas. The MLP will include 44,000 acres in Montezuma County and 27,000 acres in La Plata County.
Areas in the original draft but left out of the final assessment include the Menefee Mountain and Weber Mountain Wilderness Study Areas because those BLM areas are already withdrawn from oil and gas leasing.
Federal minerals near the western boundary of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument were also dropped because the area is largely leased. Vast areas with private land and private minerals were also left out because the BLM does not have jurisdiction.
Clementson said the process of creating an MLP will include an environmental analysis and public input and meetings as required under the National Environmental Policy Act.
However, developing the MLP will have to wait in line, and is not expected to begin before June 2018.
The BLM said it will not begin the MLP process until after the conclusion of a separate ongoing study that will determine Areas of Critical Environmental Concern in the Tres Rios district.
There will be no oil and gas leasing within the MLP boundary until the process is complete, Clementson said.
The Montezuma County Commission opposed an MLP, fearing it could harm the economy by limiting oil and gas development. Instead of an MLP, commissioners supported an amendment to BLM plans that would further protect the Phil’s World trail network, but would still allow some oil and gas leasing.
Commissioner Keenan Ertel saw the delay of starting the MLP process as an opportunity to stop it in the administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
“We still have time to work on putting (the MLP) away,” he said.
La Plata County commissioners, though, were concerned about the delay.
“I’m of course happy that Washington has approved an MLP for this area, but I’m concerned the local BLM office wants to delay it two years,” said Commissioner Gwen Lachelt. “Who knows what can happen in two years? I hope this is something we can move forward now, while there’s funding.”
Phil Ayers, of Southwest Colorado Cycling Association, was pleased to learn the MLP will move forward. He said the group supports the MLP as a way to secure a sustainable trail system, not only at Phil’s World but at future BLM trails.
“Our intent is not to block energy development,” he said. “The MLP just provides more control over where roads and well pads go so they don’t intersect with trails. We don’t want uncontrolled development.”
BLM recreation areas northwest of Mancos and north of Mesa Verde have potential for trail development, Ayers said, and will also benefit because they are within the MLP boundaries.
Eric Sanford, who represented the oil and gas industry’s opposition to the MLP, said additional regulations are unnecessary.
“When I apply for a permit to drill, it already goes through an environmental analysis” where impacts are mitigated, he said. “MLPs are delay mechanisms for those who oppose oil and gas, and they are the wrong tool to analyze such a small area.”
Sanford said federal MLP approval is part of a “rush to get things approved before the new administration.”
“Supporters got what they wanted because it will take years for the necessary studies, unless the new administration undoes it,” he said.
The San Juan Citizen’s Alliance, a Durango-based environmental group, said MLPs are an effective tool, and work to balance land uses.
“Public land-use policy has for too long given preference to energy extraction often at the expense of other resources,” the Alliance said. “This planning tool is being implemented throughout the West and reflects a new way of managing fossil fuel extraction with respect to other values. The Tres Rios Master Leasing Plan ensures we will protect our most precious public lands, including Mesa Verde National Park, recreation opportunities and our agricultural and cultural heritage.”
