10 Apr BLM Releases Final UFO RMP Decision

The Trump administration today released its final Resource Management Plan for our area that paves the way for expanded drilling and fracking and other fossil fuel extraction in the North Fork Valley and across southwestern Colorado for the next two decades, threatening our organic agriculture, recreation, and endangered species, while undermining the state’s climate law.

Despite 42,000 public comments in opposition, the Governor’s Consistency Review identifying inconsistency with Colorado laws and policies, 126 protests including from Gunnison, San Miguel and Ouray Counties, the Town of Paonia, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and Representative Julie McCluskie, problems identified in our July protest, the BLM has moved forward in releasing a fundamentally flawed Resource Management Plan. The agency refused to consider alternatives to curb oil and gas leasing and failed to analyze how expanding fracking and drilling could harm organic agriculture, the environment, climate and endangered species, and public health. Since 2016, we have been asking the BLM to redo its environmental impact statement and support a plan that recommends no new leasing in the North Fork Valley. Working with our partners, we are not giving up. You can read our press release here.