Congressman Salazar: Community Deserves Full Disclosure on Impact of Development

Salazar Asks Bureau of Land Management to Postpone Auction, Greater Community Outreach

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman John Salazar (CO-3) today asked the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to place a priority on community outreach and postpone this week’s scheduled lease sale of oil and gas drilling rights. The BLM provided little notice before scheduling lease of lands in Delta, Ouray, Montrose, and San Miguel counties for Thursday, May 12th. Salazar recommends that the BLM postpone it plans until the next quarterly auction, to allow sufficient time for the community to understand the impact of the proposed projects on water quality and individual property rights.

“The idea that the government can drill in someone’s backyard with such little notice is simply unacceptable,” said Salazar. “People deserve to know how the BLM’s plans will affect their land and water. We need to take the time to do this the right way - postponing the lease of mineral rights for a few months will allow the BLM to renew its commitment to working with the community on development issues.”

The complete text of Salazar’s letter to the BLM follows:

May 10, 2005

Dear Mr. Wenker: (Note: Ron Wenker is the Colorado State Director for BLM)

I write to request that the Colorado State Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) postpone the leasing of 72 parcels of lands within the State of Colorado for oil and gas development.  The parcels are located within San Miguel, Montrose, Ouray, and Delta Counties, and most of the parcels occur on land with private surface ownership.  I am concerned with the expedited process of this sale and the effect it might have on the residents within those counties.  The sale is scheduled for May 12, 2005, but many of the residents did not receive notice until May 5, 2005.  Local government officials and residents deserve appropriate notification on large scale leases such as this so they may better understand who and what is affected.

As you know, the BLM website, which is relied upon by the community for information on oil and gas leasing, has been inaccessible for several months.  Therefore, residents and local government officials have had to travel to the local BLM offices to obtain the relevant information.  This method of fact finding takes a lot of time for an individual to acquire and decipher all of the information.  In rural areas like this it can take hours to drive to the site to obtain information.

Many of the proposed parcels to be auctioned will impact landowners who do not own the mineral estate under their property.  Postponing the lease sale will allow these impacted landowners more time to investigate how this will affect them.  Some of these tracts may also be located near sensitive habitat areas for wildlife, which could trigger some environmental concerns.  These oil and gas leases will also impact watersheds and fisheries.  The increased development of oil and gas can put a strain on local governments from road maintenance to ensuring that growth development plans are in place.  All of the above mentioned issues take more than a week to do, which is same amount of time the BLM has given the residents and the local governments. 

Again, I ask the BLM to postpone this lease sale until the next quarterly auction in August 2005 to allow the individuals and communities affected to obtain more information.  I believe that by postponing this process it will better serve the communities impacted and allow for better cooperation between the BLM, the residents of these affected counties, and the oil and gas industry. 

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,
/s/
John T. Salazar
Member of Congress