Roan Plateau Raped

Well ... (0.00 / 0)

... at this point, I'd still call it to be, but it's a big step closer to happening.

Thanks for posting this.  I built the SaveRoanPlateau.org web site a couple of years back at a previous job, and went out to see the Roan Plateau several times during that process.

Y'all if you haven't been up there, you don't know what you may soon have missed forever.  The
aspen forests are like nothing I've seen in nearly 40 years in Colorado.  It's incredible game habitat.  The waterfall is incredible.

If you have a weekend available (um, maybe after the election?) and it hasn't snowed up there yet, get in your high-clearance 2WD (or better) vehicle, grab some friends to make the gas cheaper, and go.  Access is a bit convoluted by 2WD, direct but exciting in 4WD, and impossible if roads are wet.

At the very least, if you haven't seen photos, go visit the SaveRoanPlateau.org web site and browse more photos like what makesmeralph has included here.

    -- Eric Johnson

Make sure your voter registration is up to date!

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by: by foot @ Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 08:49:03 AM CDT

Well, crap. (0.00 / 0)

Not that I ever expected anything different from this Administration.  This is the same bunch of corporatocracy crooks, after all, that rushed out to lease mineral rights on 4 parcels of BLM land as soon as it came out that Rep. Degette wanted to set them aside as wilderness areas.  The same Administration that consistently leases out parcels on the edge of National Parks, often in plain sight of major natural landmarks, just to spite the public land ownership system.

Hopefully various environmental organizations can tie it up long enough to get a more sympathetic set of lawmakers in office.

(-6.25,-5.23) The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. -- Justice Louis D. Brandeis

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by: Phoenix Rising @ Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 10:20:09 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Very frustrating (0.00 / 0)

I've attended meetings and written people and donated money for about three years to see the exact opposite.  I took a tour of the plateau last year and was amazed by the diversity I saw there.  I knew it was an uphill battle with this administration and our Interior Secretaries, but tried to add my weight to the decision.

Pictures taken at the base of the plateau are, I think, indicative of what we will see at the top of the plateau in a short time frame.  Once industry gets its filthy foot in the door, they're not going to stop.

Environmentally friendly drilling?  Who's going to clean up the infrastructure when they're done pillaging?  If we have adults performing oversight, citizens might have a chance of not paying for it.

It's a good thing Republicans listen to the people when making decisions like these, right?

A Responsible Plan for Iraq: endorsed by Jared Polis

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by: WeatherDem @ Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 10:05:16 AM CDT

To illustrate ... (0.00 / 0)

Here's what the area below the rim of the plateau, along I-70, looks like:

It's one of the most industrialized bits of public land in Colorado, second perhaps only to the Rangely oil field.

This issue isn't even R vs D or conservative vs progressive.  There are lots of folks in conservative Garfield County who are opposed to drilling, because the Roan Plateau is their backyard and because, as a site for guided hunting trips, it's a huge contributor to the local economy.

    -- Eric Johnson

Make sure your voter registration is up to date!

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by: by foot @ Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 14:44:59 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I should note ... (0.00 / 0)

... I believe that some of the land in the picture is private.

    -- Eric Johnson

Make sure your voter registration is up to date!

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by: by foot @ Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 16:00:40 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Not a partisan issue (0.00 / 0)

So true.  Every meeting I went to, the only people who were in favor of drilling represented the industry.  Citizens of all stripes and backgrounds showed up to voice their displeasure.

A Responsible Plan for Iraq: endorsed by Jared Polis

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by: WeatherDem @ Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 16:12:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

And Beauprez wouldn't lift a finger (0.00 / 0)

to try and fight this. 

Do we need a New Energy Economy, or what?  It's time to live up to the Colorado promise.

< /end Bill Ritter's campaign >

SoapBlox - the new blog framework.

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by: pacified @ Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 10:31:10 AM CDT

Senator Wayne Allard supports the drilling. Here's his contact info. (0.00 / 0)

From today's Denver Post:

Republican U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard praised the plan, saying it should serve as a model for other federal agencies, while Democrat U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar expressed disappointment that drilling would be allowed on the plateau.

• Washington: (202) 224-5941
• Denver: (303) 220-7414
• Mailing address:
  US Senator Wayne Allard
  521 Dirksen Senate Office Building
  Washington, DC 20510
  

Emails have less weight. I recommend writing a letter or calling in.

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by: bouncingoffthewalls @ Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 14:49:31 PM CDT

Comments due October 7, 2006 ??- New Regs (4.00 / 3)

I am concerned that the new NEPA shortened protest period will not allow the conservationists to delay this ruling. I bet this was one of the action items on the energy industry list when they met with Cheney and wrote the 'rape public land everywhere' energy plan the first weeks the admin was in office! The deadline for protest is 30 days from September 7th release date. So that's the first week of October. I couldn't find a specific date on the web. Here is the Roan BLM web site for all the docs including an 'official protest' form.

http://www.blm.gov/r...
Below is where to send the protest.

Where and When to Send Your Protest: Protests must be in writing and filed with the BLM Director.  All protests must be postmarked or received not tlater than 30 days after publication of EPA’s Notice of Availability in the Federal Register.  Protests may be sent via U.S. mail to: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Director (210), Attention – Brenda Williams, PO Box 66538, Washington DC 20035.  Protests sent via express mail or overnight delivery service should be sent to: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Director (210), Attention – Brenda Williams, 1620 L Street, NW, Suite 1075, Washington DC 20036.

It is a very sad week. Our leader wants us to approve torture; he is creating fear everyday in the news; and now this absolute giveaway of public lands that are supposed to be held for our children and grandchildren!
On top of all this, my 93 year old Grandmother died this week. She left a legacy of 43 grandchildren who she made sure knew the value of the great outdoors and preserving our earth. Thank you Grandma.

ACTION - VOICE - SPICE
Visit my new blog Green Chile Democrats

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by: greenchiledem @ Sat Sep 09, 2006 at 09:25:40 AM CDT

Smoke goes up to your Grandmother... (4.00 / 1)

Let's keep fighting for her sake!

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by: Makesmeralph @ Sat Sep 09, 2006 at 09:50:44 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Testimonial from a Town Invaded by Riggers (0.00 / 0)

The small pristine town of Pine Dale Wyoming, just around the corner fro Cheney's summer home in Jackson Hole, as been invaded by thousands of Oil Riggers.

  It might be helpful to get some testimonials from these people. While, yes it has increased their tax base, many of the citizens in this once peaceful town would gladly give back the  money.

  The oil riggers have come all at once....... descending like angry hornets on the little community. Their quiet roads are now filled with non stop traffic. The quiet bars are now rowdy with drunken oil riggers. Their public schools have been exposed to the most popular drug for riggers, crystal meth and its use has skyrocketed. The air pollution of the once clear skies is now visible.

  Here is a link to the story.

  Destruction of a Small Town

  A good point to make with the Christian conservatives is the exposure to the rough neck oil riggers and their sexual appetites and their heavy drug use, and the rise in alcohol consumption.

  If they must drill they could certainly SLOW DOWN on the invasion and do it more slowly.

  The rough riggers have destroyed Pine Dale.

  Do we want a similar invasion in our state? No.

inspire change..... don't back down

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by: missliberties @ Sun Sep 10, 2006 at 08:53:08 AM CDT

State Regulatory Authority on Federal Lands (4.00 / 2)

  Colorado should re-establish the Colorado Joint Review Process (JRP)and direct state agencues and counties to regulate, via permits, all resource development activities EVEN THOSE LOCATED ON FEDERALLY-MANAGED LANDS within Colorado's boundaries.

  The State of Colorado has, and has been judicially enabled, the ability to stipulate guidelines and require regulatory permits, as a permission by the State of Colorado, for mineral resource developments located on federal lands located in Colorado. Under provisions pronounced in the U. S. Supreme Court's 1987 Granite Rock decision, state authority to regulate resource activities on federal lands - see CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSION ET AL. v. GRANITE ROCK CO, 480 U.S. 572 (1987), argued December 2, 1986, decided March 24, 1987 with O'CONNOR, J., delivering the opinion of the Court, in which REHNQUIST, C. J., and BRENNAN, MARSHALL, and BLACKMUN, J.J., joined, was upheld - over the objections of the federal regulating agencies.

  GRANITE ROCK pronounced, as a review of Constitutional separation and judicial pronoucements regarding state authority of resource development on federal lands, that State authority has not been superceded, nor per-empted, by U. S. federal regulatory action: "Upon examination [sic]the Forest Service regulations that Granite Rock alleges pre-empt any state permit requirement not only are
devoid of any expression of intent to pre-empt state law, but rather appear to assume that those submitting plans of operations will comply with state laws. The regulations explicitly require all operators within the national forests to comply with state air quality standards, 36 CFR 228.8(a) (1986), state water quality standards, 228.8(b), and state standards for the disposal and treatment of solid wastes, 228.8(c). The regulations also provide that, pending final approval of the plan of operations, the Forest Service officer with authority to approve plans of operation "will approve such operations as may be necessary for timely compliance with the requirements of Federal and State laws . . . ." 228.5(b).

  Finally, in the final subsection 228.8, the guideelines state "[r]equirements for environmental protection," provides: "(h) Certification or other approval issued by State agencies or other Federal agencies of compliance with laws and regulations relating to mining operations will [480 U.S. 572, 584] be accepted as compliance with similar or parallel requirements of these regulations."

  Western Colorado is under severe, and maybe unprecedented, development pressure.  The Colorado Legislature and the Colorado Executive Departments and Governor's Office have not promulgated protection for Colorado's well-being - while  having the legal ability to do so.

  For Colorado's governments not to require regulatory permits under existing authority to provide stewardship for Colorado's places is an oversight by Colorado governmental leaders that ought to be rectified. The Colorado Joint Review Process (J.R.P.), formerly coordinated within the Colorado Department of Natural Resources during proposed extraordinary developments in the 1970's, could serve as an excellent model to coordinate State of Colorado concerns and permits within the Department of Local Affairs, within Health and Environment, within Natural Resources, within Transportation, within Administration, Education, and at local governments (see The Colorado Land Use Act CRS 24-65.1-101 et seq. and the Local Government Land Use Enabling Act, CRS 29-20-101 et seq. for local government development review processes).

  Colorado's local government and regional interests require state assistance in the protection of Colorado's best interests. Demand a State of Colorado rational and necessary approach to mineral resource development impacts. 

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by: rghamilton @ Mon Sep 11, 2006 at 10:07:19 AM CDT