Garfield County Commissioner from Glenwood Springs heads to roundtable

GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Garfield County Commissioner John Martin will travel to Denver today to participate in a roundtable to try to develop a way to distribute millions of dollars from the Anvil Points oil shale trust fund back to Colorado.

U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., called for the meeting and invited county commissioners from Rio Blanco, Mesa, Routt and Moffat counties and representatives of the Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado (AGNC) and the Club 20 Western Slope advocacy group. U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, and state representatives and senators have also been invited to the meeting.

That fund is estimated to have about $86.5 million, with about $1.5 million in gas lease revenues flowing into the fund every month.

A 1997 law transferring the Roan Plateau near Rifle to Bureau of Land Management authority barred sharing of Roan gas lease revenues with the state until the federal government is fully reimbursed for cleanup of the former Anvil Points research station near Rulison. The cleanup is expected to start in June, which could allow for the release of millions of dollars in gas revenues back to Colorado.

Allard is concerned that Congress could siphon off some of the revenues and spend the money outside Colorado. U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has said the department is looking to take about $24 million out of the trust fund.

At the county commissioners’ meeting on Monday, Commissioner Larry McCown said it is the position of AGNC that money left over from the costs of the cleanup in the oil shale trust fund should come back to Colorado, and to Garfield and Rio Blanco counties.

“That is what we are pushing for,” Martin said.

Steve Wymer, a spokesman for Allard, said the meeting is a “real opportunity to clear up any misunderstandings or misinformation about the solutions Allard has provided to the Anvil points oil shale trust fund account money.” Wymer said the senator’s main goal is to bring the money from the trust fund back to Colorado.

The Salazars have submitted legislation that would immediately send money from the trust fund to Garfield and Rio Blanco counties. Under that legislation, each county could receive more than $15 million.

The Salazars said their bill would direct Colorado’s share of the fund toward land, water and wildlife protection, along with improvements for roads affected by oil and gas development.