Salazar Brothers Work to Fix Transfer Act, Immediately Dedicate Surplus Funds to Garfield, Rio Blanco Counties

WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Ken Salazar and Representative John Salazar introduced legislation today to ensure that Garfield and Rio Blanco Counties immediately receive the surplus funds from the Anvil Points trust fund for land, water and wildlife protection, conservation and roads affected by oil and gas development.

“The oil and gas industry provides Colorado with much-needed revenue that enables our state to flourish,” said Senator Salazar. “We must ensure that some of those revenues go back to the communities they originated from. Our bill will ensure that the oil and gas industry does not leave the counties of Garfield and Rio Blanco looking like a spoiled moonscape but instead allows the watersheds and wildlife there to prosper and continue to be a haven for sportsmen and recreationists from across Colorado.”

“It is essential that we take care of our local governments. Garfield and Rio Blanco are on the front lines of the oil and gas boom,” said Rep. Salazar. “Those on the front line deserve the bulk of the resources to restore impacted land, repair roads and infrastructure, and assist wildlife herds scattered by development. It is time to take care of those who are sacrificing the most.”

Under the Transfer Act (Public Law 105-85), Colorado does not receive any of the leasing revenues that would normally be shared 50-50 between the state and federal government under the Mineral Leasing Act until cleanup of the Anvil Points Superfund Site is complete. The Anvil Points trust fund is in surplus and that surplus currently amounts to approximately $66.5 million. The Salazar-Salazar legislation amends the Transfer Act to immediately release Colorado’s share of the surplus funds to Western Slope communities to mitigate development impacts in and around the former Naval Oil Shale Reserve in Garfield and Rio Blanco counties.

The Anvil Points trust fund currently accrues approximately $1.5 million per month. Under this legislation those incoming funds will be split 50/50 between the two counties and the federal government. After the cleanup of the Anvil Points site is complete and the Secretary of the Interior certifies that the federal government has collected enough money to pay for the cleanup, the Anvil Points trust fund will cease to exist and oil and gas leasing revenues from the area will be divided 50/50 between the state of Colorado and the federal government.

Yesterday, Senator Salazar and Congressmen Mark Udall and John Salazar introduced legislation that repeals the current money grab by the federal government that reduces from 50% to 48% the share of total royalties paid to Colorado and other states. That Salazar-Udall-Salazar legislation restores each state’s share to its full, co-equal 50% of mineral leasing revenues and is available by clicking here.

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