Who Owns The West? Oil & Gas Leases in America's West

"When you start getting all these oil and gas wells on public land, you lose the people coming here. Will you pay me $2,500 to $3,500 to take you on a hunt when over here's a gas well and over there's a rig? How much do the people of Garfield County have to keep giving?"

— Keith Goddard, hunting and fishing guide in Rifle, Colorado, near Roan Plateau, 2004 (Kenworthy 2004)

Quick Facts: Federal Land in Roan Plateau Area

Acres leased near base of Roan Plateau: 13,288
Oil in undeveloped Plateau could supply U.S. for: 5.8 hours (EIA Petroleum Products 2002, BLM Roan RFD 2003)
Gas in undeveloped Plateau could supply U.S. for: 35 days (U.S. DOE Natural Gas 2004, BLM Roan RFD 2003)

Roan Plateau Interactive Map

Map Note: Entire Roan Plateau area outlined in red depicts 73,000-acres of land on which BLM may allow close to 2,000 oil and gas leases. Top of the Plateau depicts sensitive undeveloped area on which BLM might approve up to 335 of the 2,000 leases (National Atlas 2003, Energy Inventory 2003, Roan Resource Plan 2004).

Drilling Roan Plateau?

For 35 days worth of natural gas and a 5.8-hour supply of oil, the Bureau of Land Management may approve a plan this August that could jeopardize one of the West's natural treasures (U.S. DOE Natural Gas 2004, BLM Roan RFD 2003, EIA Petroleum Products 2002, BLM Roan RFD 2003).

The BLM is expected to complete an environmental impact study in 2004 that could place 335 oil and gas wells on Colorado's spectacular Roan Plateau and more than 1,600 wells adjacent to the Plateau (AP 2004). An Environmental Working Group analysis of government leasing and drilling records shows that the oil and gas industry already pressures local wildlife — a summary of current leasing activity in the Plateau is shown below.

Oil and Gas Lease Holders of Roan Plateau land

In Roan Plateau, 3 companies and individuals hold 13 active leases on 13,288 acres of land. The table below shows who holds active leases, and provides links to comprehensive information on leases held across the west by individual companies, and political contributions made by companies over the past three election cycles.

Rank	Name	City/State
1	The Williams Companies	Tulsa, OK 74172	12	13,048
2	Yates Petroleum Corp	Artesia, NM 88210	7	4,264
3	Encana Oil & Gas Inc	Calgary, Alberta, Canada	1	240

Source: EWG analysis of leasing and drilling records in 12 western states, contained in the Bureau of Land Management's Land and Mineral Records 2000 database, acquired by EWG May 15 2004.

Wild Land, Wildlife

The Roan Plateau is located in northwestern Colorado and rises 3,000 feet above the Colorado River. It is a beautiful land of forests, deep canyons, and waterfalls (BLM Roan Plan 2004, BLM Rivers Eligibility 2002, BLM Roan RFD 2002, Kenworthy 2004).

The Plateau is also home to a rich collection of wildlife including 33 species of mammals, 125 species of birds, and 12 species of reptiles and amphibians. The birds include the American Peregrine Falcon that was removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999. The mammals include black bear, mountain lions, elk and mule deer. In addition, the Plateau contains several populations of Colorado River Cutthroat Trout distinguished by their genetic purity (BLM Rivers Eligibility 2002).

A recent BLM study found that eight streams on the Plateau meet the requirements to be designated part of the Wild and Scenic Rivers System by Congress (BLM Rivers Eligibility 2002). Another BLM report found that four areas meet the requirements to be designated Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. One such area is known as Anvil Points and contains dramatic, white shale cliffs that give way to green slopes as well as habitat for Peregrine Falcons and Golden Eagles (BLM ACEC 2002).

Citizens groups have identified 38,000 acres as having wilderness potential while a BLM study found 22,000 acres with wilderness potential. If Congress designates land as wilderness, the land is closed to development. But if land becomes developed prior to a wilderness designation, it likely will lose any chance to be designated as wilderness (AP 2004, The Wilderness Act 2004).

Drilling High and Low

The plan that BLM is currently considering would open 73,000 acres of the Plateau to oil and gas development. In a forecast of reasonably foreseeable development over the next 20 years that assessed a scenario of relatively unrestricted development, BLM estimated that there would be 1,987 wells drilled — 335 on the upper Plateau and 1,652 on the lower Plateau (BLM RFD 2004, Goodenow 2004). The lower plateau is also known as the base of the plateau and is currently the site of intensive natural gas development. The top of the Plateau is largely undeveloped (Goodenow 2004, AP 2004).

Small Amounts of Energy

This drilling would yield little oil and gas relative to demand. The BLM projected that the 1,987 wells will produce 4.8 million barrels of oil and 2.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (BLM Roan RFD 2003, Goodenow 2004).

To put these figures in perspective, U.S. oil consumption in 2002 was 7.1 billion barrels, meaning that the federal lands in the Roan Plateau would provide the nation with about 5.8 hours of oil (EIA Petroleum Products 2002). The U.S. used about 23 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas in 2001 — a figure that is expected to rise to 35 TCF per year by 2025 (USDOE Natural Gas 2004). Thus, at 2001 levels of consumption, the federal lands in the Roan Plateau would provide the nation with about 35 days of natural gas.

Conservationists, hunters and local communities have opposed oil and gas development on top of the plateau in part because they believe such development could harm the area's economy that is increasingly dependent on tourism, outdoor recreation and retirees. Last year, BLM decided not to consider a plan that would include no drilling on top of the plateau as one of the Bureau's options for managing the area (Kenworthy 2004).

References:

Associated Press. 2004. Roan Plateau Draft Plan Pushed Back to August; New Option in the Works. April 16, 2004.
Bureau of Land Management. Roan Plateau RMP Amendment Evaluation of Proposed Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. Accessed online June 10, 2004 at http://www.saveroanplateau.org/background.htm.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM Roan RFD 2003). 2003. Roan Plateau Planning Area Oil and Gas Reasonable Foreseeable Development. Accessed online June 10, 2004 at http://www.saveroanplateau.org/background.htm.
Bureau of Land Management. 2002. Roan Plateau Eligibility Report For the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Accessed online June 9, 2004 at www.co.blm.gov/gsra/WSREligibility%20findings.pdf.
Bureau of Land Management. 2004. Roan Plateau EIS Resource Management Site. Accessed online June 9, 2004 at http://www.roanplateau.ene.com/default.asp.
Energy Information Administration (EIA Petroleum Products). 2002. Annual Energy Review, 2002. Petroleum Products Supplied by Type, 1949-2002. Accessed online July 14, 2004 at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/petro.html.
Goodenow, Greg, Planning and Environmental Coordinator for the Glenwood Springs Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management. 2004. Personal communication. June 10, 2004. Goodenow said that the RFD scenario was one of largely unrestricted development that may not reflect the land use plan ultimately implemented by BLM.
Kenworthy, Tom. 2004. Stretch of Colo. Land Becomes Battleground. USA Today. March 5, 2004.
National Atlas of the United States, Federal Lands and Indian Reservations, October 2003 (National Atlas). 2003. Accessed online at http://nationalatlas.gov
The Wilderness Act. 16 U.S.C.S. §§ 1131, 1133 (2003).
U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE Natural Gas). 2004. Natural Gas Fundamentals from Resource to Market. Accessed online May 24, 2004 at http://www.energy.gov/engine
/content.do?BT_CODE=NATURALGAS.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Roan Plateau Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (Roan Resource Plan). 2004. Accessed online at http://www.roanplateau.ene.com/.
U.S. Departments of Interior, Agriculture, Energy (Energy Inventory 2003). 2003. Scientific Inventory of Onshore Federal Lands' Oil and Gas Resources and Reserves and the Extent and Nature of Restrictions or Impediments to Their Development. Accessed online May 27, 2004 at http://www.doi.gov/epca/.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1999. Recovery of the Peregrine Falcon. Accessed online June 9, 2004 at http://endangered.fws.gov/peregrin.html.