Federal officials have postponed the sale of oil and gas leases on public lands that had raised concerns about the prospect of drilling near the Chimney Rock National Monument and important wildlife habitat in southwest Colorado.
A notice on the Colorado Bureau of Land Management website announced the postponement of the March 25 lease auction.
In January, the Biden administration ordered a pause in new oil and gas leasing on federally managed lands and waters while a review is conducted of the leasing and permitting for fossil-fuel development. President Joe Biden has put dealing with climate change at the forefront of his policies and during his campaign he pledged to end new oil and gas leases on public lands as part of the effort.
Biden’s executive orders are an abrupt change from the Trump administration’s push to open up more public lands to drilling as a key component of making the U.S. energy dominant.
The proposed leases that included sites near Chimney Rock drew criticism about the potential impacts on the national monument and important wildlife habitat as well as concerns about the cumulative effects of more greenhouse gas emissions.
The Bureau of Land Management, which manages mineral development on public lands, extended the public comment period in November on the sale after state, local and tribal officials said there hadn’t been enough time to weigh in.
About 2,500 acres of the land up for lease are in the San Juan National Forest. Some of the parcels are close to Chimney Rock, which has more than 150 archaeological resources from one of the largest Pueblo communities in the region.
“Colorado’s public lands have, for far too long, been put at risk by an oil and gas leasing system that has prioritized development over outdoor recreation, wildlife conservation, and other values,” Ann Morgan, a former Colorado BLM director, said in a statement.
“By postponing this lease sale, the Biden administration has shown their commitment to reforming this antiquated system so that other important values of these lands — outdoor recreation, conservation, and much more — are fully considered,” Morgan added.
The roughly 117,000 acres of public lands that were set to be auctioned in March include land in the White River National Forest and the Pawnee National Grassland in northeast Colorado.
The Chimney Rock monument is between Pagosa Springs and Durango. The 4,726-acre monument gets its name from two stone pinnacles. The Pueblo community there was connected to others in the Southwest whose culture was centered in Chaco Canyon in northern New Mexico.
The Western Energy Alliance, a Colorado-based industry group, has filed a lawsuit challenging Biden’s moratorium on new leases.
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February 14, 2021 at 08:00PM
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