Possible BLM Lease Cancellations Expose Hydrocarbon Class Warfare ( Colorado )

Watchdog ^ | May 6, 2014 | Marjorie Haun

[george76]

The plan to void 60 western Colorado energy leases.. is a looming BLM-caused disaster.

Hundreds of citizens from Mesa County and other affected areas gathered May 1 in De Beque to protest a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan to void existing contracts the government made with private individuals and companies.

The meeting in De Beque, a little town dependent almost entirely on gas, oil, coal and cows, was not originally planned by the BLM. Since half of the imperiled leases are in Mesa County, the Mesa County Board of Commissioners joined with various associations and individuals to demand that the BLM take public comments from those whose jobs are on the line. Interestingly, people who actually depend on and work in the energy industry had not been properly informed about public comment meetings previously held in the elite enclaves and tourist destinations of Aspen, Carbondale, and Glenwood Springs.

...

Two Pitkin County officials testified in support of the lease cancellations, as well as two activists from the “Thompson Divide Coalition,” an environmental lobbying group opposed to all energy exploration and extraction

...

The conflict in western Colorado, in some ways, is a class war. Residents of Aspen and other wealthy towns who spend part of the year in massive mountainside homes, burning vast quantities of natural gas .. and guzzling enormous amounts of electricity .. are often the loudest voices against energy development.

...

Those who work in the energy patch are middle-class people with families who live in towns like De Beque, Parachute, Silt, Grand Junction, and the semi-rural outskirts of rich communities. They typically work long hours, often at multiple jobs, and have little time for political activism.

[Westbrook]

The Feral Gubmint and their jackbooted mercenaries are totally out of control.

[Da Coyote]

“The Feral Gubmint and their jackbooted mercenaries are totally out of control.”

There are solutions to that.

[andyk]

There is something inherently evil about the BLM and its minions.

[DownInFlames]

Do these leases have a cancellation clause? If not it’s a breach of contract.

[Dr. Thorne]

From the CS Monitor:

"In Salt Lake City Friday, representatives from Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Oregon, and Washington met for a “Legislative Summit on the Transfer of Public Lands""

Which western state was missing from this list (California doesn't count)?

[OneWingedShark]

Do these leases have a cancellation clause? If not it’s a breach of contract.

The government doesn't care; it doesn't have to play by the rules — or at least that's what it believes.
The Tree of Liberty may yet prove them wrong.

[cookcounty]

Nailed it:

"Residents of Aspen and other wealthy towns who spend part of the year in massive mountainside homes, burning vast quantities of natural gas for their heated rooms and hot showers, and guzzling enormous amounts of electricity to power their gadgets and to light their 12-foot tall rooms, are often the loudest voices against energy development in Pitkin and surrounding counties."

"Many wealthy liberals from Mesa, Pitkin, and Garfield counties make hefty donations to Democrats, such as Sen. Mark Udall...."

[grania]

It has been said for many years that the next civil war will be about water. Vail, Aspen and many other ski slopes suck up all of the water at its source, even from surrounding towns. what’s not sustainable is the water use for the ski slopes where the elite play.....and build huge mansions in gated communities.

[Madame Dufarge]

The Western Colorado Field Officers of the BLM failed to conduct proper Environmental Impact Studies (EIS) on the disputed leases when they were first written.

When were the leases written - 1840? Because I find it impossible to believe that the past enviro-Nazi bureaucrats didn't administer the standard proctology exam before the leases were signed.

Of course, there's the possibility that they were deliberately omitted so that the government could take their usual course of voiding the "contract", tearing it up into pieces, throwing it in your face and telling you to go screw yourself at any time in the future.