“fails to consider constituent input”
“Bill mirrors legislation penned by industry”
“More than 90 percent of this draft is copied verbatim from a bill that was crafted and circulated by SG Interests”
“didn’t answer the accusation directly”
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Tipton gets blowback on drilling bill (AUDIO)
Aspen Public Radio
http://aspenpublicradio.org/post/tipton-gets-blowback-drilling-bill#stream/0
Representatives from the Wilderness Workshop and Thompson Divide Coalition had harsh words Tuesday for a proposed oil and gas lease swap. Meanwhile, Pitkin County commissioners expressed frustration that their input wasn’t considered in the latest proposal. Morgan Neely has more.
County officials received praise from conservationists in yesterday’s session for their work on protecting the Thompson Divide. Those same activists directed criticism towards a bill coming from Congressman Scott Tipton’s office. It would allow drilling in Delta County instead of the Divide.
Will Roush is conservation director for the Wilderness Workshop. He called the bill a “giveaway to industry,” and questions why it would eliminate the impact review process for new oil and gas leases.
Brian Meinhart is Tipton’s regional director and policy advisor. He said it’s impossible to know what America’s energy needs will be in 30 years.
“It could be that those resources are very much needed,” he said.
Zane Kessler, executive director of the Thompson Divide Coalition, said the bill fails to consider constituent input, which asks for permanent withdrawal of the leases.
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Commissioners stick to their guns on draft Tipton bill
Aspen Daily News
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/170917
The Pitkin County commissioners reiterated their support for permanent protection of the Thompson Divide during a meeting with U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton’s regional director on Tuesday.
The Western Colorado Lease Exchange and Conservation Act of 2016 has not been made official, but it has already raised the hackles of many conservationists, who are calling it a handout to the oil and gas industry.
The legislation seeks to swap the ability to drill on more than 30,000 acres of public land in the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison national forests for equal acreage in the Thompson Divide near Carbondale that is subject to existing oil and gas leases. The leases in question are owned by Houston-based oil and gas companies SG Interests and Ursa Piceance LLC.
Many North Fork Valley residents have come out against the legislation, and criticized Tipton for not meeting with them before releasing the draft bill.
The timing of the bill was also put to question, as the Bureau of Land management in February unveiled a preliminary preferred alternative for 65 existing contested oil and gas leases on federal land owned by SG and Ursa. That decision would see 25 leases located in the Divide voided, precluding the idea of a swap. A draft environmental impact statement determined that the NEPA analysis for the 65 leases “is no longer adequate due to changes in laws, regulations, policies and conditions.”
Tipton’s camp would like to get some form of legislation passed prior to that decision becoming finalized.
Bill mirrors legislation penned by industry
Commissioner Rachel Richards questioned the language in the bill, which mirrors draft legislation penned last year by SG.
“The thing that strikes me is that this is so very similar if not identical to the draft that the industry had submitted and the types of concerns that we have submitted so far really haven’t been included at all,” she said. “It seems to me that what’s thrown out there are what Ursa and SG thought would be a good deal for them.”
Meinhart didn’t answer the accusation directly, but said that the document can be added to or subtracted from and is not in its final form, but rather a baseline.
Commissioner Patti Clapper said the board has concerns over provisions in the bill that would skip one level of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process.
The commissioners stressed that they don’t want to see the extraction simply pushed into other regions, effectively dumping their problems on other communities, and thought the draft bill was myopic in looking at just the economic benefits of energy extraction.
“What it all comes back to is this is not permanent withdrawal,” Richards said. “The bottom line of this is, I’ve watched Carbondale and the Roaring Fork Valley and the Crystal River Valley rebuild itself after the boom and bust of a coal mine closing and rebuild a stable, steady productive environment and economy for themselves.
“They don’t want a boom-and-bust economy that is now plaguing these other communities that have bought into it,” Richards continued. “Many of them have thrown away any real chance they have at tourism, or bringing back meaningful agriculture, because of the impacts of the oil and gas industry.”
Meinhart said that Tipton wouldn’t support permanent withdrawal in the Thompson Divide or elsewhere.
‘Death by 1,000 cuts’
Commissioner Michael Owsley said that the Thompson Divide is a minuscule portion of potential energy resources and shouldn’t reduce the national portfolio for production areas.
Richards said the while industry feels it may need the resources in Thompson Divide at a later date, the community may need the wildlife that would be affected by widespread development.
Owsley, referring to the silver mining days, added that resource extraction in the past had “devastated” the Aspen area.
“There were no more elk, there were no more fish, it was a wasteland,” he said. “So, that memory is still here, dealing with the results of unfettered exploitation.”
Commissioner Steve Child said that in 30 years, Pitkin County may not rely on any fossil fuels due to enhanced technology in renewable resources.
Will Roush, conservation director for Carbondale-based Wilderness Workshop, thanked Meinhart for coming to Pitkin County, but said the bill is unacceptable in its current form, and he would like to see the BLM process come to fruition.
Zane Kessler, executive director of the Thompson Divide Coalition, said that the bill is nearly identical to the proposed SG legislation from last year.
“We do not see this as an original work product,” he said. “More than 90 percent of this draft is copied verbatim from a bill that was crafted and circulated by SG Interests in the summer of 2015.”