American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2015 - 150

ConventionSection: Western Energy Alliance

Alliance Protests Federal 'Land Grab'
DENVER-The Western Energy Alliance in February joined other industry
groups in filing a protest against a leasing
decision by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service to close
leasing in the White River National Forest
in Colorado.
The Alliance says the federal action
covering nine Colorado counties included
in the forest is "a dramatic change from
current management policies and clearly
aimed at curtailing future oil and natural
gas development."
The federal plan effectively closes the
entire forest area known as the Thompson
Divide to oil and gas leasing and is
"marred by political interference and superficial analysis," the Alliance notes in
its objections.
With its "flawed presumption that oil
and gas development is incompatible
with agriculture, recreation, outfitting,
wildlife, and protection of other natural
resources," the Alliance says the leasing

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plan "fails to successfully balance responsible energy development with conservation, and ignores the broad economic
needs of all local communities, not just
favored segments of society."
The objections were filed jointly by
the Alliance, the West Slope Chapter of
the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, and
Public Lands Advocacy.
According to a record of decision filed
by Scott Fitzwilliams, supervisor of the
White River National Forest, the plan
updates a 1993 plan that closed 800,555
acres to leasing by closing an additional
1,281,726 acres. The plan leaves 194,123
acres available to mineral leasing, according to the USFS decision (Figure 1).
Of the new acreage closed to leasing,
Fitzwilliams says 83 percent is closed
because "there is little or no potential for
oil and gas production because of the geology of the area."
Fitzwilliams says his "more conservation-minded" decision was not easy
because he had received "significant input
from a wide variety of interested people
who have a genuine stake" in the White
River Forest.
However, the Alliance says it discovered the plan's "bias in favor of conservation, recreation, and the interests of

those living in the region's resort communities," combined with the sway of
input from "special interests, politicians
and political appointees" in a federal
Freedom of Information Act request. The
result, the association says, is a plan that
is not multiple-use, but one that is "dominated by a single use: conservation."
In May, a USFS official rejected the
industry objections, although one operator
was successful in his request to have a
map included in the final record showing
areas included in no surface occupancy
lease stipulations, according to published
reports. Also, federal officials were considering a request by two operators with
leases adjoining the closed acreage to
swap the leases for acreage on public
lands farther west.
Alliance Activity
The Alliance was actively involved
last year in supporting removing the U.S.
ban on exporting crude oil, observes
Chairman Jack Ekstrom. At the same
time, he says, it continues its functional
involvement in a variety of regulatory
and legal tussles that fall within the public
lands access or wildlife categories.
The long running drama over the potential listing of the greater sage grouse

FIGURE 1
White River National Forest

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Legend
Lands Administratively Available for Leasing

1902 N. Yellowood Ave.
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74012 U.S.A.
7/6 -(? 

150 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

Lands Closed for Leasing through Management Direction
Lands Legally Closed for Leasing
National Forest System Lands with Private Mineral Estate
American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2015

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