BLM Final Proposed Uncompahgre

Resource Management Plan

The long awaited Final BLM Uncompahgre Resource Management Plan (RMP) for over 675,800 surface acres and 971,220 acres of federal subsurface mineral estate within the Uncompahgre Planning Area was released on June 28, 2019, 3 years after the draft was released for public comment.

 

This RMP is the single-most important economic driver, which will dictate the future of Delta County and the North Fork Valley for the next 20 years. This Final Proposed RMP opens 95% of the federal mineral estate to oil and gas development, and removed protections for our watershed, our public health, wildlife resources, and climate that were proposed in the 2016 draft RMP, and is inconsistent with several Colorado laws, policies and plans. The deadline for protesting this RMP to the BLM is July 29, 2019. The Governor has until August 29, 2019 to conduct a consistency review and make a recommendation to the BLM. A No Oil and Gas Leasing Alternative is the only way to fully protect the community from harm.

 

The Final RMP must be protested for the following reasons:

  • BLM proposed an entirely new alternative which was not subject to public comment in violation of federal law;
  • BLM did not consider a no-development or no leasing alternative as a baseline alternative for comparison of all other alternatives;
  • The proposed RMP is inconsistent with Colorado’s recent statutory changes to put people, the environment, and climate FIRST, Colorado’s Water Plan, and Gunnison Sage-Grouse protections.
  • Oil and gas development in the North Fork Valley is unsafe and unsound because it is the 2nd most geologically unstable corridor in the State, and it does not have enough water to support the level of development forecasted.

 

 

So Why Must the North Fork Valley Protest the Proposed RMP?

 

  • The Proposed RMP would open more than 95% of the federal mineral estate to oil and gas development
  • The Proposed RMP drastically reduces the protective stipulations originally created in the Draft RMP’s “Agency Preferred Alternative”,  ignores Alternative B.1, and ignores the community request for the highest levels of protections, including a no-leasing alternative.
  • The Proposed RMP does not consider that such proposed increases in oil and gas development on public lands have the potential to poison food sheds and threaten to wipe out food security for people on the Western Slope and the Front Range.
  • The Proposed RMP does not the consider the potential for irreparable damage to clean air, abundant fresh water and food sheds (including Colorado’s largest concentration of organic farms).
  • The Proposed RMP ignores the potential for significant harm to human health and a local economy based on agriculture and organic farms, recreation, hunting, and tourism.
  • The Proposed RMP could result in the loss of unique biodiversity in the State of Colorado, as it eliminates Ecological Emphasis Areas and significantly reduces existing Areas of Critical Environmental Concern.
  • This Proposed RMP will shape the future of the North Fork Valley. The final RMP will guide oil and gas development for the next 20-30 years.

Your voice is needed loud and clear!
 

READ THE FINAL PROPOSED RMP FOR YOURSELF

 

WE’VE MADE IT REALLY EASY FOR YOU TO PROTEST AND REQUEST THAT THE GOVERNOR CONDUCT A CONSISTENCY REVIEW

Here are some resources on the Final Proposed RMP, Protest Materials, and Consistency Review Support Materials.

WE ARE IN FOR A VERY BIG FIGHT AND NEED YOUR HELP EVERY STEP OF THE WAY

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