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GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — The same day the U.S. Department of the Interior finalized two major oil shale moves last week, six environmental groups sent a sharply worded letter to the head of the agency threatening to file a lawsuit.
The groups, in their letter, say the Interior Department violated federal law by not allowing the public to protest land use amendments that opened up 2 million acres in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah to potential oil shale development.
C. Stephen Allred, assistant U.S. Department of Interior secretary for land and minerals management, signed a record of decision finalizing that move last week. It occurred on the same day the Bureau of Land Management issued final commercial oil shale regulations.
“We hereby inform you that unless you respond to this letter immediately and inform us the BLM is withdrawing the (record of decision) and reinstating the public protest period, we will have no choice but to consider initiation of litigation in federal courts to protect our rights,” according to the groups’ Nov. 17 letter to Dirk Kempthorne, secretary of the Interior.
Nada Culver, senior counsel for the Wilderness Society, said the groups have yet to hear back from the federal government on its recent letter or about another letter sent to the Department of Interior in early October.
“We are trying to gauge what our next step is,” Culver said. “We certainly would like to hear from the government in response to our letters.
“Generally, when we write a letter raising an issue of urgent importance to the West, we would expect to get a response. But, then again, we normally expect the federal government to comply with its own regulations.”
The environmental groups, which include Carbondale-based Wilderness Workshop, the Wilderness Society and Boulder-based Western Resource Advocates, wrote a letter to the Interior Department in early October to request that planned amendments to open millions of acres to oil shale development be withdrawn.
The government never responded to that letter, Culver said.
A request for comment from a BLM spokesman in Washington was not successful late Monday.
In response to the groups’ October request, the BLM issued a statement saying the Department of Interior finalized the amendments to comply with a deadline laid out in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and that the process was consistent with federal law.
As a result, the BLM protest period did not apply, the BLM said in its statement.
The agency added that the “strategic importance of alternative energy resources, such as oil shale and tar sands, in enhancing the nation’s domestic energy supplies factored into the decision.”
Contact Phillip Yates: 384-9117
pyates@postindependent.com
Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, Colorado CO
The groups, in their letter, say the Interior Department violated federal law by not allowing the public to protest land use amendments that opened up 2 million acres in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah to potential oil shale development.
C. Stephen Allred, assistant U.S. Department of Interior secretary for land and minerals management, signed a record of decision finalizing that move last week. It occurred on the same day the Bureau of Land Management issued final commercial oil shale regulations.
“We hereby inform you that unless you respond to this letter immediately and inform us the BLM is withdrawing the (record of decision) and reinstating the public protest period, we will have no choice but to consider initiation of litigation in federal courts to protect our rights,” according to the groups’ Nov. 17 letter to Dirk Kempthorne, secretary of the Interior.
Nada Culver, senior counsel for the Wilderness Society, said the groups have yet to hear back from the federal government on its recent letter or about another letter sent to the Department of Interior in early October.
“We are trying to gauge what our next step is,” Culver said. “We certainly would like to hear from the government in response to our letters.
“Generally, when we write a letter raising an issue of urgent importance to the West, we would expect to get a response. But, then again, we normally expect the federal government to comply with its own regulations.”
The environmental groups, which include Carbondale-based Wilderness Workshop, the Wilderness Society and Boulder-based Western Resource Advocates, wrote a letter to the Interior Department in early October to request that planned amendments to open millions of acres to oil shale development be withdrawn.
The government never responded to that letter, Culver said.
A request for comment from a BLM spokesman in Washington was not successful late Monday.
In response to the groups’ October request, the BLM issued a statement saying the Department of Interior finalized the amendments to comply with a deadline laid out in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and that the process was consistent with federal law.
As a result, the BLM protest period did not apply, the BLM said in its statement.
The agency added that the “strategic importance of alternative energy resources, such as oil shale and tar sands, in enhancing the nation’s domestic energy supplies factored into the decision.”
Contact Phillip Yates: 384-9117
pyates@postindependent.com
Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, Colorado CO
