On October 5, 2017, the Bureau of Land Management Uncompahgre Field Office approved SG Interests I, Ltd’s Bull Mountain Master Development Plan to develop up to 146 natural gas wells, four water disposal wells, and associated access roads and pipelines.
The Bull Mountain Unit Master Development Plan area covers about 19,670 acres in the Upper North Fork Valley of Gunnison County, of which:
- 440 acres are federally owned surface lands and mineral estate administered by the BLM;
- 12,900 acres are split-estate lands, consisting of private surface and BLM- administered Federal mineral estate; and
- 6,330 acres are fee land, consisting of private surface and private mineral estate.
You can find all the NEPA documents related to the Bull Mountain MDP, including the Record of Decision here
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CHC and a coalition of conservation groups filed a complaint in federal court with the US District Court for the District of Colorado on Friday, Oct. 20, challenging the Bull Mountain Decision. We are being represented by Western Environmental Law Center and are joined by conservation groups including the Center for Biological Diversity, High County Conservation Advocates, and WildEarth Guardians. Wilderness Workshop joined the lawsuit on January 16, 2018.
On March 27, 2019, a federal judge ruled today that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service illegally approved the Bull Mountain Master Development Plan, finding that officials did not adequately analyze wildlife and climate impacts. In his ruling U.S. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock faulted the two federal agencies for failing to account for downstream emissions from drilling and faulted BLM for failing to adequately address potential harm to mule deer and elk. The judge said the agency must clarify the area it used when analyzing potential harms to elk and mule deer habitat. The decision was remanded to the BLM and the USFS. All APD’s approved in conjunction with the decision have been suspended until the agencies conform with the court order. We are awaiting the results of the remand.
What you can do:
- See something say something! Please keep an eye out for unusual activity, spills, flaring, increased truck traffic, disposals, etc. Contact us at info@natashal1.sg-host.com with any information that concerns you.
- Monitor your air and water with citizen-science tools so that you start creating a baseline of data.
- Subscribe to our newsletter, if you don’t already, to stay up to date on Bull Mountain and oil and gas activity in our area.