Southwest Colorado is no stranger to gas and oil development, and over the past several decades, residents, local decision-makers, landowners, conservationists, recreationists, land managers and the industry have learned much about effective ways for gas and oil activity to coexist with its neighbors. Central to this process has been a recognition that drilling – and its related activities – have an impact beyond a given well’s location. Negotiating how development will occur so as to mitigate those impacts is equally critical to the process and there are many tools that various jurisdictions can deploy in that pursuit. A Master Leasing Plan is the latest such implement in the Bureau of Land Management’s bailiwick, and the BLM’s Tres Rios Field Office should commit to deploying it when considering the potential arrival of 3,000 new wells in western La Plata and Montezuma counties.
A Master Leasing Plan allows for a mid-level consideration of the cumulative impacts that development across a landscape can deliver – as well as provides an avenue for addressing those impacts proactively. It allows the BLM and the various stakeholders affected by the agency’s leasing decisions to take a more refined look at an area earmarked for gas or oil development than that allowed by a resource management plan – a comprehensive document that considers all uses across an entire BLM district, which in the case of the Tres Rios Office, comprises 664,000 acres. The MLP tool is not so narrow, though, as to examine well-by-well development – an exercise that can overlook the collective effect on air and water quality, wildlife habitat, recreational, agricultural and other landscape resources. Its use fills a formerly large void in the BLM’s planning portfolio.
The agency is currently deciding whether to craft an MLP in the Paradox leasing area – which runs west from Durango through Cortez west to the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument boundary, north to Dolores and south to Towaoc. The area borders Mesa Verde National Park and includes a patchwork of federal, state and private lands, as well several classes of mineral rights holders. Given the complexity – and critical importance – of the landscape involved, a mid-range planning tool such as and MLP is wholly appropriate. The BLM needs public affirmation of that.
There are conflicting opinions as to the efficacy or necessity of an MLP, with gas and oil industry representatives balking at the notion while conservation and recreation groups are insisting on it. The La Plata County Board of Commissioners has strongly encouraged the process, citing its ability to bring stakeholders together to consider impacts prior to leasing land for development – and long before the drilling itself begins. The BLM should listen and encourage the participation – it will only improve the resulting development proposed through a crucial corridor in Southwest Colorado.
The BLM will hold two meetings today – at 10 a.m. at La Plata County Fairgrounds and 6 p.m. at the Mancos School gym – where the agency will gather public input on the process. It will do the same on March 16 – at 10 a.m. at the Montezuma County Annex Building in Cortez, and 6 p.m. at Fort Lewis Mesa Elementary in Hesperus. Weigh in on the importance of collaborative processes at one of these meetings. There are many components of gas and oil development relevant to consider, and a master leasing plan allows adequate space to do so.