HUMAN ERADICATION: BLM LEASE CANCELLATIONS EXPOSE HYDROCARBON CLASS WARFAREPosted: 2014-05-11 Citizens pack western Colorado meetingMay 6, 2014 by Marjorie Haun
Western Colorado has seen more than its share of energy boom and bust cycles, and one thing holds true: energy busts are 100 percent human-caused disasters. The plan to void 60 western Colorado energy leases, however, is a looming BLM-caused disaster. Hundreds of citizens from Mesa County and other affected areas gathered May 1 in De Beque to protest a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan to void existing contracts the government made with private individuals and companies. The meeting in De Beque, a little town dependent almost entirely on gas, oil, coal and cows, was not originally planned by the BLM. Since half of the imperiled leases are in Mesa County, the Mesa County Board of Commissioners joined with various associations and individuals to demand that the BLM take public comments from those whose jobs are on the line. Interestingly, people who actually depend on and work in the energy industry had not been properly informed about public comment meetings previously held in the elite enclaves and tourist destinations of Aspen, Carbondale, and Glenwood Springs. For several hours the BLM entertained comments from scores of people. Most strongly opposed the BLM lease cancellations, and many brought legal and energy industry expertise with them. Several business owners, laborers, ranchers, and moms and dads testified to the BLM field officers present about how the unprecedented cancellation of existing leases could devastate their current standard of living and their future dreams. Two Pitkin County officials testified in support of the lease cancellations, as well as two activists from the “Thompson Divide Coalition,” an environmental lobbying group opposed to all energy exploration and extraction in the White River Valley and surrounding areas. Like the confrontation in Nevada between the Bundy Family and the BLM, the “leases controversy” highlights both the overreach and the incompetence of a federal government bureaucracy. Unlike the Bundy Ranch saga, the De Beque meeting was about the BLM breaking the law. The Western Colorado Field Officers of the BLM failed to conduct proper Environmental Impact Studies (EIS) on the disputed leases when they were first written. Because of the field officers’ bureaucratic omission, the BLM either will illegally break contracts between the consenting parties, or initiate a protracted new EIS process that will take a minimum of two years, potentially leaving leaseholders and energy businesses in limbo. The producing wells within the 60 leased patches have been compliant, with no major environmental incidents. Opposition to the leases is largely predicated on the basis of popular anti-fracking mythology. A character known as “Frackenstein,” dressed as the Grim Reaper, often appears at meetings where oil and gas is at issue. The conflict in western Colorado, in some ways, is a class war. Residents of Aspen and other wealthy towns who spend part of the year in massive mountainside homes, burning vast quantities of natural gas for their heated rooms and hot showers, and guzzling enormous amounts of electricity to power their gadgets and to light their 12-foot tall rooms, are often the loudest voices against energy development in Pitkin and surrounding counties. Many wealthy liberals from Mesa, Pitkin, and Garfield counties make hefty donations to Democrats, such as Sen. Mark Udall—who has a reputation for strong environmental advocacy—and subsequently have a great deal of leverage. Those who work in the energy patch are middle-class people with families who live in towns like De Beque, Parachute, Silt, Grand Junction, and the semi-rural outskirts of rich communities. They typically work long hours, often at multiple jobs, and have little time for political activism. One of the driving factors behind the intense opposition from ordinary citizens at the May 1 De Beque meeting is the legitimate concern that good jobs are in peril. The people who benefit most from the energy industry continue pushing for policies that could destroy the livelihoods and futures of thousands in western Colorado. Cancellation of the 60 existing BLM leases, many of which harbor producing wells, would lead to an unnecessary and devastating human-caused disaster. http://watchdogwire.com/colorado/2014/05/06/possible-blm-lease-cancellations-expose-hydrocarbon-class-warfare/
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