[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 61 (Thursday, April 17, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S3147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SALAZAR:
  S. 2879. A bill to provide for orderly and balanced development of 
energy resources within the Roan Plateau Planning Area of Colorado, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation to 
ensure responsible development of the energy resources under Colorado's 
Roan Plateau in a manner that minimizes the adverse impacts on its 
unique ecological resources while maximizing the financial returns to 
the State of Colorado and to our country. This legislation was 
developed jointly with my colleagues Representative John Salazar and 
Representative Mark Udall, who plan to introduce the legislation today 
in the House.
  The Roan Plateau, an area of pristine wilderness in northwestern 
Colorado, rises 3,500 feet out of the Colorado River Valley. It boasts 
native cutthroat trout streams and has some of the best winter elk and 
mule deer habitat left in the heavily developed Piceance Basin. The 
Roan has long been a favorite destination for hunters and anglers. The 
mule deer, elk, black bear, and native trout that find habitat on top 
and at the base of the Roan Plateau are an economic engine all their 
own, drawing tourism and recreation dollars to towns like Glenwood 
Springs, Rifle, Silt, and Parachute.
  Recently the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management, 
which oversees the public lands on the Roan and the minerals beneath 
them, announced that it is opening these lands for energy development. 
Under the BLM plan, 67,000 acres of public lands on and around the Roan 
Plateau will be open for natural gas drilling as soon as this year. We 
in Colorado are blessed to be home to significant energy resources, and 
tapping these resources is important to sustain our Nation's energy 
needs and invigorate the Colorado State economy. But in its current 
form, the BLM plan lacks adequate protections for the Roan's land, 
water, and wildlife--the very things that support the outfitters, 
guides, hotels and restaurants in the area. And by proposing to lease 
all of the undeveloped public lands at once, the BLM plan would sell 
Colorado short.
  Drilling is already happening on roughly half of the plateau that is 
either owned or leased by the natural gas industry. Without question, 
western Colorado is experiencing a boom in energy development. During 
the decade of the 1990s, the average number of completed gas wells per 
year in Garfield County--the home of the Roan--was 80. The number of 
completed wells has climbed rapidly since 2000, setting a new high each 
year. In 2006, 840 new wells were completed in Garfield County. This 
rapid expansion of activity has created new jobs in the region, but has 
also stoked new conflicts between the energy values and environmental, 
ecological, and recreation values of these lands. The impacts of this 
development are being felt by landowners and outdoor enthusiasts alike. 
Sportsmen have watched as public hunting areas, habitat, and important 
watersheds have been irreparably degraded as a result of widespread 
development.
  With this level of development occurring we must ensure that the most 
pristine areas of the plateau that remain are protected, that oil and 
gas development in the region occurs with minimal disturbance, and that 
Colorado receives the best possible financial return on any oil and gas 
leases.
  Our legislation has three main functions that work to address these 
issues. First, it requires phased leasing on top of the plateau to 
maximize state revenues and better protect wildlife habitat and the 
environment. Second, it ensures protection of critical cutthroat trout 
watersheds and other wildlife habitat on top and around the base of the 
Roan Plateau. Lastly, it contains a conforming amendment to the 
Transfer Act to ensure that Colorado receives its fair share of leasing 
revenues rather than directing this money, as the Transfer Act 
specifies, to the Anvil Points cleanup fund, which is in surplus.
  The phased leasing provision requires BLM to lease less sensitive 
areas outside of cutthroat trout watersheds first, rather than leasing 
all available development areas at once. In selecting areas for 
leasing, BLM must take into consideration various factors designed to 
maximize leasing revenues and to minimize the environmental and 
ecological impacts of development. Phased leasing will generate higher 
per-lease bids from industry--and more money for the Treasury and 
Colorado--than the current BLM plan to lease the entire designated 
development areas at once.
  The special protection provisions of the bill expand BLM's designated 
``Areas of Critical Environmental Concern,'' ACECs, to include the 
headwaters of Northwater Creek and the East Fork of Parachute Creek 
above the confluence with First Anvil Creek--both of which are critical 
native cutthroat trout watersheds. The bill also permits gas 
development activities on top of the plateau outside ACECs that are 
within development corridors along existing ridge-top roads on slopes 
not exceeding 20 percent. These measures will protect critical elk and 
mule deer habitat around the base of the plateau, while allowing 
development and recovery of the available natural gas under the Roan.
  In 1907, President Teddy Roosevelt told a crowd that, ``In utilizing 
and conserving the natural resources of the Nation the one 
characteristic more essential than any other is foresight. The 
conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute 
the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of 
our national life.'' President Roosevelt's wisdom--over a century 
later--is as valuable as ever to a Nation committed to protecting its 
land and water, but that is in dire need of affordable, domestic 
sources of energy.
  The Roan is a special place. Protecting our State's last few 
remaining wild spaces, maximizing oil and gas leasing revenues from 
these areas and supporting the communities that surround them need not 
be at odds. This bill will replace BLM's plan with a better, more 
balanced approach that will protect the most critical areas on the top 
of the Roan and provide the most benefit to the State of Colorado.
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