Oil and Gas

Missed Opportunity for Climate Mixed with Progress for Conservation in the BLM’s Management Plan for the Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction Field Offices

2024-06-25T15:46:25-06:00

Missed Opportunity for Climate Mixed with Progress for Conservation in the BLM's Management Plan for the Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction Field Offices June 20, 2024 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Francis Sanzaro, Communications Director, 315-415-7861, Wilderness Workshop, francis@wildernessworkshop.org; Keeley Meehan, Policy Director, 618-210-9805, Colorado Wildlands Project, keeley@cowildlands.org; Melissa Hornbein, Western Environmental Law Center, 406-708-3058, hornbein@westernlaw.org; Alli Henderson, Southern Rockies Director, Center for Biological Diversity, 970-309-2008, ahenderson@biologicaldiversity.org GRAND JUNCTION, CO – Today, the BLM released the Proposed Resource Management Plan / Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction Field Offices, which will determine [...]

Missed Opportunity for Climate Mixed with Progress for Conservation in the BLM’s Management Plan for the Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction Field Offices2024-06-25T15:46:25-06:00

Thompson Divide Public Meetings Announced – May 2023

2023-05-05T22:36:26-06:00

The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have announced public meetings next week for the proposed Thompson Divide Administrative Mineral Withdrawal. Please attend (in-person or virtually) and show our federal agencies that we remain Unified For the Thompson Divide! What: Public Meetings about the proposed Thompson Divide Mineral Withdrawal When: Tuesday, May 9 (Delta) & Thursday, May 11 (Gunnison & Virtual); sessions begin at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. Where: Bill Heddles Recreation Center (531 N. Palmer St., Delta, CO 81416) & the Western Colorado University Ballroom (1 Western Way, Gunnison, CO 81231) or virtually (register [...]

Thompson Divide Public Meetings Announced – May 20232023-05-05T22:36:26-06:00

New planning efforts underway for the Colorado River Valley and the Piceance Basin

2023-04-06T20:22:49-06:00

Back in 2015, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finalized the Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction Resource Management Plans, dictating how nearly 2 million acres of public lands and the minerals beneath them in Western Colorado would be managed. The BLM prioritized oil and gas over all other uses and the plan opened 80% of the planning area (1.5 million acres) to oil and gas leasing and development. As a result of lawsuits filed by Wilderness Workshop and our conservation partners in 2016 and 2019 - challenging the BLM’s failure to analyze the climate impacts of [...]

New planning efforts underway for the Colorado River Valley and the Piceance Basin2023-04-06T20:22:49-06:00

Protecting the North Fork Valley & Gunnison National Forest

2023-04-06T20:24:39-06:00

Surrounded by public lands - including Wilderness Areas, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, and the Gunnison National Forest - the North Fork Valley is unlike anywhere else in Colorado and even the world. It contains the largest concentration of organic, sustainable growers in the state and is home to the West Elk American Viticultural Area, one of the highest wine-growing regions in the world. Though wildlife, agriculture, and the local economy depend on intact and thriving ecosystems on these public lands, substantial threats - primarily from oil and gas development - remain. 2022 saw [...]

Protecting the North Fork Valley & Gunnison National Forest2023-04-06T20:24:39-06:00

Years of hard work culminating in cancellation of the East Willow Leases

2023-04-06T20:26:35-06:00

Filled with verdant aspen forests, beaver streams, and abundant wildlife, the Willow Creek area straddles portions of Pitkin and Mesa counties and includes three roadless areas originally prioritized for protection by the Thompson Divide Coalition. Despite the area’s rich ecology, 6 oil and gas leases covering more than 8,600 acres were issued in 1996. Recognizing the threat and looking for opportunities to protect this place, in 2008 we started filing Freedom of Information Act requests to learn everything we could about why the 12-year-old leases hadn’t expired. Oil and gas leases are issued for 10-year terms and are [...]

Years of hard work culminating in cancellation of the East Willow Leases2023-04-06T20:26:35-06:00

Conservation Groups to Defend Biden Administration Postponement of Oil, Gas Lease Sales

2023-04-06T20:01:31-06:00

Industry doubles down on failed attempt to rewrite the law for oil and gas companies February 8, 2023 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Seventeen groups represented by Earthjustice and the Western Environmental Law Center moved to intervene today to defend the Biden administration’s postponement of several oil and gas lease sales. A September ruling in U.S. District Court in Wyoming affirmed the administration’s ability to postpone lease sales, but the state of Wyoming and industry groups are suing in an attempt to rewrite the law to benefit fossil fuel companies. “For too long BLM has blindly leased public lands to oil and [...]

Conservation Groups to Defend Biden Administration Postponement of Oil, Gas Lease Sales2023-04-06T20:01:31-06:00

An opportunity to protect 1.5 million acres of Colorado’s public lands

2023-04-06T20:35:46-06:00

New plans will require a hard look at climate impacts From the Winter 2022 Issue of Wild Works. This summer, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) started a new planning process for 1.5 million acres of public lands in western Colorado, spanning the Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction Field Offices. The BLM finalized resource management plans for this region in 2015, adopting heavily imbalanced plans that opened 80% of our public lands to oil and gas leasing and development. We challenged those plans in court and as a result of our legal challenges, the BLM is now revisiting [...]

An opportunity to protect 1.5 million acres of Colorado’s public lands2023-04-06T20:35:46-06:00
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