Feature

Colorado's Roan Plateau On the Verge of Destruction

Some of Colorado's most wildlife-rich public lands are about to be turned over to gas drillers in a lease sale opposed by the governor, many legislators, conservation groups and thousands of citizens. Earthjustice is suing on their behalf.

Oil and gas development on public and private lands at the base of the Roan Plateau

Photo by Jeff Widen

The pockmarked plains below Colorado's Roan Plateau offer a shocking glimpse of what's in store for the plateau itself if the federal government succeeds in leasing away 55,000 acres of public lands for industrial gas drilling.

Drilling rigs and their concrete emplacements are carved into vast areas of the plains, and service roads crisscross the region. It has all the appearance of an exploited moonscape, as do other areas in northwestern Colorado, where gas exploration has been going on for some time.

By contrast, looming hundreds of feet above the plains, the plateau is a place of wild abundance. Elk, deer and pure strains of cutthroat trout are prized inhabitants, making it a place revered by hunters and fishing enthusiasts. The plateau itself is a remarkably rippling landscape full of rivers and streams, blanketed with forests and plants -- including some found only in the Roan.

But, the area is also full of natural gas deposits, which the Bureau of Land Management is opening to habitat-destructive drilling operations. The lease sale is set for Aug. 14.

The threat of losing these natural resources to industrialization has wrought a coalition of protest from Gov. Bill Ritter, many congressional leaders, tens of thousands of ordinary Coloradans, local businesses and conservation groups.

Represented by Earthjustice in a lawsuit, the coalition is charging the BLM with ignoring federal law and failure to properly consider development alternatives. They accuse the agency of not allowing public comment on its final plan, by arbitrarily ignoring likely drilling impacts beyond 20 years and by failing to establish adequate protections for areas the agency admits have critical ecologic importance.

East Fork Falls is a popular destination with visitors to the Roan Plateau

Photo by Colorado Environmental Coalition

The BLM also violated federal law by failing to analyze near-term impacts to air quality and wildlife populations from adding more than 1,500 new wells in the Roan planning area to 2,000 existing and planned wells surrounding the plateau's unspoiled public lands, according to the lawsuit.

By leasing the entire plateau now, BLM's plan would provide industry little or no incentive to deploy or adapt drilling technology to reduce or eliminate impacts to public lands. Earlier this year, the BLM rejected a request by Gov. Ritter to expand wildlife habitat protections and lease the plateau in phases to provide better economic returns for Colorado and allow industry to develop more sophisticated, less-damaging drilling technologies.

BLM also ignored the recommendations of its own field staff and other cooperating agencies, failed to consider the impact of its plan on the region's declining air quality, and rejected alternatives that would protect the Roan's backcountry recreation and wilderness-quality lands.

"No one wanted it to come to this," said Jim Angell, the Earthjustice attorney who filed the suit. "Our clients have tried and tried, but talking to the BLM is like talking to a brick wall. Federal law requires these lands be managed for multiple public uses, not turned over to the highest bidder at the earliest possible opportunity. When a government agency ignores its legal obligations, it's up to citizens to hold them accountable."

Take action to protect the Roan Plateau!

Check out our video on the Roan Plateau below: