Senator Bennet & Senator Udall
Call for More Local Input, Meaningful Stakeholder Discussions before BLM Decision on Thompson Divide Oil and Gas Leases
Washington, DC – Heeding concerns from local county commissioners and community organizations, Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar calling for more local input and meaningful stakeholder discussions before the Bureau of Land Management makes a decision on the designation of a 32,000-acre parcel of public land for potential oil and gas development. The parcel, which is mostly under the surface jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service, is located predominantly in Colorado’s Pitkin and Garfield Counties.
Bennet and Udall believe a viable, consensus-based development plan for the area may emerge and have advocated not to preclude eventual consideration of such a plan.
“Until the communities affected by this proposal have been given adequate time to complete their final discussions on the long term management of this area, we believe it would be premature for your respective agencies to approve the current unitization request covering the so-called ‘Thompson Divide’ acreage,” the senators wrote in their letter. “We would ask that you allow for robust and meaningful discussions among all concerned stakeholders, as well as an opportunity for those stakeholders to meet with the Administration, before making a decision on the request.”
Michael F. Bennet Mark Udall
U.S. Senator U.S. Senator
Member, Senate Committee on Member, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Energy and Natural Resources
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This is a great opportunity to contact the Senators and thank them for their support and action for the Thompson Divide Coalition. Go to the Senators facebook pages or visit their websites and leave a message.
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