Free Republic

A U.S. district judge ordered the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on Friday to re-assess its plan to allow drilling on some 50,000 acres on the Roan Plateau, which the energy industry says contains one of the largest natural gas fields in the continental United States. Judge Marcia Krieger said BLM had failed to thoroughly assess all the environmental impact to the ecologically sensitive plateau in western Colorado before approving energy development on the mountain. "Like many areas of Colorado, the area has been blessed with an abundance of two major resources, the uses of which are often in...

Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar said Wednesday he wants another look at drilling on the Roan Plateau but stopped short of saying he’d press the Senate to prevent it. “I would hope that there would be another opportunity to re-examine oil and gas on top of the Roan Plateau,” ... Salazar’s brother, Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., is seeking this week to have the House include a provision banning spending on Roan leasing during the 2008 fiscal year in an Interior Department appropriations measure... Drilling proponents said John Salazar might be “caving in to pressure from out-of-state special interests.” Most of the...