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A growing legion of local governments is calling for no gas drilling to be allowed on top of the Roan Plateau.
Elected representatives in Carbondale, Silt and New Castle all have voted unanimously to support what's being called a Community Alternative to five draft federal alternatives for managing the plateau. Carbondale took its action Tuesday night.
Glenwood Springs City Council has not taken a position on the Community Alternative, recently unveiled by the Campaign to Save Roan Plateau, a coalition of environmental groups and other advocates for protecting the land located northwest of Rifle. However, council last week voted to take a more general position against drilling on the plateau top.
The Bureau of Land Management's preferred draft alternative for the plateau, Alternative 3, proposes to defer drilling on the plateau top until a threshold amount of drilling is reached for surrounding lowlands.
According to the environmental coalition, the Community Alternative seeks to build on the idea of deferred drilling by recommending that the BLM defer all gas leasing on top during the 20-year life of the management plan, unless the gas can be extracted through directional drilling so the land on top is not disturbed. That plan still would allow development of between 85 and 99 percent of the natural gas likely to be produced from the plateau planning area under the next 20 years, environmentalists say.
They hope to protect plant and animal habitat and backcountry opportunities on the plateau top. They also propose requiring the use of best management practices by the energy industry to protect natural resources where drilling occurs.
In addition, the Community Alternative calls for the BLM to designate two Special Recreation Management Areas in the plateau planning area. The BLM should protect Hubbard Mesa, below the plateau top, with no-surface-occupancy stipulations for any gas development, and also prioritize funding for signs and facilities there, proponents of the Community Alternative say.
They also want the BLM to create a 32,639-acre SRMA on the plateau top to protect backcountry recreation activities. This SRMA proposal was part of a preliminary management alternative for the plateau, but was not included in any of the BLM's draft alternatives.
Motorized and mechanized travel should be limited to designated routes, according to the Community Alternative.
All six municipalities in Garfield County called for keeping drilling off the plateau top during a more preliminary phase of the BLM's planning.
Garfield County commissioners have yet to take a position on the draft plan. It plans to accept public comment on the plan at a special meeting Feb. 2. A public comment period on the draft plan ends March 4.
Elected representatives in Carbondale, Silt and New Castle all have voted unanimously to support what's being called a Community Alternative to five draft federal alternatives for managing the plateau. Carbondale took its action Tuesday night.
Glenwood Springs City Council has not taken a position on the Community Alternative, recently unveiled by the Campaign to Save Roan Plateau, a coalition of environmental groups and other advocates for protecting the land located northwest of Rifle. However, council last week voted to take a more general position against drilling on the plateau top.
The Bureau of Land Management's preferred draft alternative for the plateau, Alternative 3, proposes to defer drilling on the plateau top until a threshold amount of drilling is reached for surrounding lowlands.
According to the environmental coalition, the Community Alternative seeks to build on the idea of deferred drilling by recommending that the BLM defer all gas leasing on top during the 20-year life of the management plan, unless the gas can be extracted through directional drilling so the land on top is not disturbed. That plan still would allow development of between 85 and 99 percent of the natural gas likely to be produced from the plateau planning area under the next 20 years, environmentalists say.
They hope to protect plant and animal habitat and backcountry opportunities on the plateau top. They also propose requiring the use of best management practices by the energy industry to protect natural resources where drilling occurs.
In addition, the Community Alternative calls for the BLM to designate two Special Recreation Management Areas in the plateau planning area. The BLM should protect Hubbard Mesa, below the plateau top, with no-surface-occupancy stipulations for any gas development, and also prioritize funding for signs and facilities there, proponents of the Community Alternative say.
They also want the BLM to create a 32,639-acre SRMA on the plateau top to protect backcountry recreation activities. This SRMA proposal was part of a preliminary management alternative for the plateau, but was not included in any of the BLM's draft alternatives.
Motorized and mechanized travel should be limited to designated routes, according to the Community Alternative.
All six municipalities in Garfield County called for keeping drilling off the plateau top during a more preliminary phase of the BLM's planning.
Garfield County commissioners have yet to take a position on the draft plan. It plans to accept public comment on the plan at a special meeting Feb. 2. A public comment period on the draft plan ends March 4.
