Take action TODAY to protect our public lands and reform federal oil and gas leasing!

With new leadership at the helm of the Department of Interior, it is vital for western Coloradans to have a say about how oil and gas is developed on federal lands. The Western Slope is home to the overwhelming majority of federally owned lands in Colorado — and consequently, bears a disproportionate burden due to archaic policies designed to put profit and production ahead of people and principle. Take a look at the map below; all of the red and orange dots represent an oil or gas well in our state, and all of the space in yellow is land owned and managed by the federal government:

After four long years of rollbacks on protections and industry giveaways, the time has come for our Alliance to push for rules that serve communities, and not the interests of fossil fuel executives. Our philosophy is straightforward:

• If an operator leases federal land, that parcel should be evaluated to ensure that it has a reasonable chance of producing enough to be worth it to the taxpayers.
• If an operator drills a hole on federal land, they should be the one responsible for paying for the cost to plug and reclaim it, not the taxpayer.
• If an operator is producing on federal lands, taxpayers should be compensated fairly for the privilege.
• And if an operator wants to do business on our lands, the process should be transparent, and operators should be held accountable for their actions.

Unfortunately, the policy framework under which the Department of Interior, and therefore the Bureau of Land Management operates under does not sufficiently guarantee any of these things. That is why it is so critical that we take action right now, while the Biden Administration is still in the process of its long term planning for the future of oil and gas development on federal lands. The decisions made in the coming weeks and months will have tremendous impacts for us here in western Colorado for decades and centuries, and this is an important chance to make our voices heard.

Take action today and sign on to Western Colorado Alliance’s letter to the Department of Interior today! The deadline is tomorrow, April 15! Tell the Biden administration that western Colorado cares about the future of our public lands, our planet, and the health of our communities.