The Biden administration has announced a proposal to block 1.6 million acres of public Colorado land from oil and gas development amid legal challenges filed by environmental groups.
Get ready for gas prices to skyrocket.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a draft Thursday, proposing that just 382,000 acres of Colorado land be reserved for fossil fuel production, marking an 80% decrease compared to the original 1.6 million acres.
“Public participation is key to the development of Resource Management Plans,” BLM Upper Colorado River District Manager Greg Larson said. “This new analysis will ensure the BLM’s management of these areas will best serve our multiple use mission for the future.”
“I’m very encouraged to see BLM listening closely to local communities who have been asking for more than a decade for the agency to protect wildlands, wildlife, water, and our climate,” Will Roush, the executive director of Wilderness Workshop, said.
“The draft plan considers common sense closures to new oil and gas leasing of additional public lands with documented community and conservation values,” he added. “This planning area contains some of our state’s most important wildlife habitat, treasured recreation areas, wildlands that should be protected for future generations, critical water resources, famed Colorado scenery, and Indigenous cultural sites.”
The proposal comes years after environmental groups have filed legal challenges, arguing that the federal government has failed to address “climate change.”
As recently as Tuesday, an environmental group filed a lawsuit against the city of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Foundation over a proposed public safety training center, citing violations of the Clean Water Act.
Despite BLM praising itself for being “green” and therefore enabling energy prices to skyrocket even more, the agency did face scrutiny over its proposal. Western Energy Alliance, a prominent fossil fuel industry trade group, criticized the agency.
“The political leadership at Interior knows this but wants to designate areas as low potential and ineligible for leasing because that’s a way to stop exploration and development on more federal lands,” Western Energy Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma told Fox News. “Closing areas designated as ‘low potential’ is a way to stop development of the very promising Mancos shale, further suppressing economic growth and job creation on the West Slope.”
Republicans also denounced BLM’s proposal, arguing that it would further increase the economic downfall in the U.S. because of Biden’s policies.
“Today’s proposal from the BLM to remove leasing for oil and gas development in Colorado amidst record high energy prices will continue to exacerbate the economic burden this Administration has placed on hard-working families,” Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) said. “Time and again, the Biden Administration acts at the will of radical environmental groups who are determined to end resource development on public lands. The Western Caucus strongly opposes this proposal that will only push energy prices to new record highs.”