Roan Plateau

For those interested in the truth about the Roan Plateau, rather than political subterfuge, we suggest you visit today's Rocky Mountain News article on the Roan Plateau.

Ignore the verbiage for now and just look at the map. Click on it to get a bigger version. Get your bearings. You are looking at the area just to the west of Rifle and to the north of the Interstate.

Now, go to Google Earth. You may have to load the new version, but do so. It is worth it. With Google Earth loaded, type "Rifle, CO" in the location box in the upper left hand corner of the screen. This lets you "fly" to that town.

You will be looking down from 34,000 feet, but you want to get closer. Move your mouse wheel to adjust your altitude down to about 10,000 feet and your left mouse button to move to the west about one screen width. Once you get down low, you can tilt the screen so that you are looking at the land horizontially. To do that, move the slider in the upper right all the way to the right.

What you are looking at has routinely been described by the environmentalists, including Mark Udall, as land too beautiful, too pristine to touch. You decide. You also might want to decide for yourself if the Rocky Mountain News areal photograph is deceptive, given the unrepresentative foreground.

Here is what Mark Udall had to say about the BLM decision:

"It was clear last year that in order for the BLM to give the state's input the serious consideration it deserves, it would be necessary for the agency to change its plan to reopen the Record of Decision regarding drilling leases on the Roan Plateau — as Rep. John Salazar and I asked them to do last year," said Congressman Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs.

"The BLM's refusal to do so is deeply disappointing because it means a refusal to properly fulfill what the Bush Administration should - but evidently does not - recognize as its obligation to the people of Colorado."

If the Bush administration has an "obligation" to protect scrub land, where would Mark Udall allow the Bush administration to drill to fulfill its other obligations to the people of the nation?

We can't overlook the Denver Post's input to the discussion. We wonder if they have looked at Google Earth.

Udall Submarined Again

Mark Udall has staked his reputation and his run for the Senate on his ability to keep drilling rigs off the Roan Plateau scrub land. He has had some help from Ken Salazar and the environmentalists.

Salazar managed to get a four month delay, supposedly so that Bill Ritter could review the BLM plan, but really in the hope that Ritter would call the plan completely unacceptable.

That didn't happen, and even the environmentalists seem to be on board with Ritter, not Udall:

Ritter and [ state Department of Natural Resources executive director Harris ] Sherman said they would push for state-of-the-art drilling technology to minimize the environmental impact.

Also, they want to lease the land in phases, which they said would maximize the economic benefits and sustain the local economy over the long haul. Incremental leasing also will allow for new advancements in drilling technology, they said.

Environmental groups praised the plan for "striking a balance" between economic benefits and environmental preservation.

"We want the appropriate balance between responsible drilling and protection of important wildlife habitats and populations," said Suzanne O'Neill, executive director of the Colorado Wildlife Federation.

Mark Udall seems to have a knack for taking positions that his "allies" in Congress, in the state government and even in the environmental community find too extreme to support.

Cutting Off Our Nose

Remember the bill that Mark Udall amended to prohibit drilling on the Roan Plateau? Supposedly it was because the Roan was a unique place.

It turns out that the bill does more:

The Roan Plateau amendment isn’t the only reason oil and gas producers are bitter. One provision within the energy bill would close down seven multi-agency offices in the West that were created to facilitate coordination between the BLM and other agencies and speed up the permitting process.

That provision makes Mark Udall, Diana DeGette, Ed Perlmutter and John Salazar into bald faced liars. They aren't interested in preventing gas production in just the scenic areas in the west. They want to ensure that it doesn't happen anywhere.

Rocky: Wrong on the Roan

The Rocky Mountain News, in a soft spoken and polite rebuke of Ken Salizar, Bill Ritter, John Salizar, and Mark Udall said that a drilling ban on the Roan was "wrong."

Like it or not, "old energy" is still economy's lifeblood...

In their public statements, backers of "clean" or renewable energy are often modest about the potential these power sources offer today's consumers. Even the most ambitious legislation, for instance, usually provides for a decade or longer for renewables to make up 15 percent or 20 percent of a utility's energy portfolio.

In practice, however, many of the same people oppose virtually all opportunities for major production of "old energy," such as on the Roan and the Outer Continental Shelf. Such opposition could of course force green technologies to assume a larger role even where they're not yet realistic options to coal, oil and natural gas...

Sen. Ken Salazar pressured the Bureau of Land Management to delay leases on the Roan for at least another four months, as requested by Ritter. And the energy bill passed by the House of Representatives earlier this month includes a provision from Colorado Reps. Mark Udall and John Salazar that would ban drilling on BLM land at the top of the plateau forever.

...it would be foolish to ban the carefully regulated extraction of natural gas from huge deposits such as the Roan in the hope that the economy can survive unscathed a forced march into a green energy future.

Drilling Ban Is "Wrong"

The Denver Post says that the drilling ban that Mark Udall and John Salizar put in the (no new) energy bill is "wrong" and should be removed.

Now that Ritter has won his point, the Senate should remove the Udall- John Salazar amendment when the two chambers go to conference on the energy bill in September. A total ban on surface drilling would cripple efforts to tap the estimated 8.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the plateau, which amount to 4 percent of the proven reserves in the United States.

If Ritter tries to insert such a surface drilling ban into the BLM plan, he would trigger a bruising political confrontation with the oil and gas industry, which pumped $22.9 billion into the state economy in 2005, according to the Colorado School of Mines. He'd also snub the expressed desires of local leaders in the three impacted counties (Rio Blanco, Garfield and Mesa), as well as the influential Western Slope promotional group Club 20 - all of whom have endorsed the BLM plan.

The Gazette vs "Extremist" Environmentalists

Mark Udall's environmental extremist allies must be unhappy that the Gazette editorial pages can't seem to stop using that word when describing him and them.

Today, they did it again:

But surrendering to the blight is a recipe for disaster. Unless we want to be living in a moonscape, and to see the state’s tourism economy tank when the browning and blackening of Colorado becomes even more obvious, we must ignore the public lands pacifists and demand that Ritter and other “leaders” mount a response, no matter how costly or controversial with green extremists.

Man’s meddling, combined with “natural” forces, created these conditions. But that there’s a “natural” component to what’s happening doesn’t absolve human beings from a responsibility to respond, in an attempt to save what forests we can.

Cancer, too, is “natural.” But few people argue that we shouldn’t fight it when a dire diagnosis is handed down. Most of us fight, even though the fight might prove futile. Yet when it comes to Colorado’s forests, some people are calling for surrender.

From where is this defeatist drumbeat coming?

From politicians such as [Mark Udall, Ken Salizar, John Salizar, and Bill ] Ritter, who hope they’ll escape blame for the ecological and economic devastation, and avoid the need to deal with it, if they convince the public that 1.) it’s all just natural and 2.) it’s impossible to prevent.

The Gazette is dead on, even though it didn't call out by name the Colorado politicians (except Ritter) who will be most responsible for the browning of Colorado. Those politicians can see the disaster they and the Sierra Club have created but just can't seem to keep themselves from adding to it with really dumb stuff like Mark Udall's Roadless amendment and Ken Salizar's holding up the confirmation of a BLM nominee.

Houston, We Have a Disconnect

Houston, We Have A Disconnect

[via Colorado Senate News]

Just so you know:

From the Denver Post:

The Post believes Ritter deserves a chance to weigh in on such a critical issue. Thus, we support the idea of a moratorium. But even if the BLM plan is held up for Ritter's review, some drilling will, and should, begin fairly soon.

That could trigger up to $1 billion as the state share of leasing payments on the land. Additionally, the state could collect $100 million or more annually for the next 20 to 30 years

From the Rocky Mountain News:

The opposition to leasing is sincere and passionate, but we think opponents overstate the downside and fail to appreciate the potential benefits. These would accrue not only to consumers of natural gas - meaning just about everyone - but more specifically to the taxpayers of this state. Penry and White's proposal highlights the boon that Roan could represent for higher education without individual taxpayers being called upon, once again, to finance the rescue operation.

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel:

short of a highly unlikely act of Congress, gas drilling on the top of the Roan Plateau is all but a fait accomplii

And, finally, the Colorado Springs Gazette:

But since the West’s energy boom began, the “stunning,” “pristine,” “special,” teaming-with-fragile-flora-and-fauna Roan has taken on near-mythical status with the anti-drilling crowd, like some lost world re-discovered. . . .

No politician is stupid enough to support a blanket ban on drilling, especially when energy prices are pinching. They just oppose drilling in the “pristine,” “special,” “irreplaceable” parts of their state or congressional district, which amounts to the same thing. . . .

And with the nation facing a serious energy crunch, the no-drilling option simply doesn’t make sense.

And, then, on the other side:

Rep. Mark Udall:

"Oil shale has potential as an energy source, but Colorado’s Western Slope has had experience with a rush to development that ended up hurting our region’s economy," . . .
My amendment will slow that process down so that we can be thoughtful about oil shale development."

And Sen. Ken Salazar:

“As I have said before, the top of the Roan Plateau is one of Colorado’s special places, and I believe that this unique Colorado crown jewel should not be opened to drilling for oil and gas at this time.


That DOES make it pretty easy to see Udall and Salazar as a bit, well, extreme on this particular issue, doesn't it?

Boy, they sure would make quite a team in the Senate, dontcha think? Oy!

[cross-posted at BestDestiny]