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June 28, 2007 04:22 PM UTC

Udall, Salazar Angry Over Failure of Roan "Time-Out"

  • 17 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Colorado Congressmen Mark Udall and John Salazar tried to pass an amendment that would have frozen energy development on top of the Roan Plateau for one year, a move widely supported by environmentalists and hotly opposed by Western Slope business interests.

Their amendment was scuttled by what Udall and Salazar claim was last-minute intervention from the White House, as the Rocky Mountain News reports:

An effort by U.S. Reps. John Salazar and Mark Udall of Colorado to delay drilling on the Roan Plateau failed Wednesday after what the duo called “strong-arm” tactics of the Bush administration.

Salazar and Udall tried to attach an amendment to an appropriations bill that would have prevented the Interior Department from using any funds to lease lands on the Roan not already open to drilling.

In a statement, the pair said a “curiously timed and highly speculative” cost estimate was added to the amendment late Tuesday that doomed its passage. Both promised to pursue other strategies to delay drilling on the Roan.

“We are disappointed that the Bush administration has stepped in at the last minute and apparently strong-armed the Congressional Budget Office . . .” the lawmakers’ statement said. Industry and its supporters say drilling restrictions imposed by the Bureau of Land Management will ensure that much of the region is protected.

Full text of their joint statement follows.

Salazar and Udall: Roan Battle Not Over

Members Vow To Keep Fighting Administration

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Reps. John Salazar (CO-3) and Mark Udall (CO-2) released the following statement today after a last-minute cost estimate was added late last night to the Roan Plateau amendment, preventing its passage on the floor today.  The amendment would have halted the U.S. Interior Department, which oversees the Bureau of Land Management, from using any funds to lease lands on the Roan Plateau not already open to drilling.  The amendment would have been attached to the 2008 Interior and the Environment Appropriations bill that passed the House floor today.

“We are disappointed that the Bush Administration has stepped in at the last minute and apparently strong-armed the Congressional Budget Office into accepting very questionable numbers on the cost of our amendment.  Because of this curiously-timed and highly speculative cost estimate, we were not able to get a vote on delaying drilling on the Roan Plateau in the 2008 Interior Appropriations bill.  In effect, the Bush Administration is using exaggerated estimates of uncertain oil and gas revenue as an excuse to force additional oil and gas drilling on the West, and while they have won today’s round, they will not prevail in the end.

“Serious questions remain about the federal plan to open up more of the Roan to oil and gas drilling.  It is clear to us that the public process must continue in order to protect the interests of affected communities and other users of these public lands.  Our amendment would have allowed that process to continue in order to strike an appropriate balance between energy development, conservation and recreation.  Unfortunately, the Bush Administration and its allies have abandoned a public process they claim to embrace and have instead chosen to stifle discussion.

“Had we been able to get a vote on our amendment, we are confident that we would have prevailed.  We would have been successful in spite of the misinformation put out by proponents of drilling.  While some on the Western Slope have aligned themselves with the energy industry and have given voice to the distortions generated by the industry,  we have chosen to side with the communities and the thousands of  constituents who have voiced their concerns about the impact it would have on them. This fight is not over – there are other legislative strategies we intend to pursue– and we also intend to send a strong message to the Bush Administration that the process they are pursuing on the Roan is seriously flawed and must be changed.”

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17 thoughts on “Udall, Salazar Angry Over Failure of Roan “Time-Out””

  1. I mean to add a poisen pill amendment like that wouldn’t the bush administration have to be a member of congress?  I guess Cheney was right.

      1. We can have energy independence and move towards a renewable energy economy.

        It’s like rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same. Some people get it, others are just… inept.

        1. There are good arguments to be made for Roan drilling, like there are for ANWR – and I say this as someone adamantly opposed to both. But believing that such drilling will bring about “energy independence” is like believing in the tooth fairy. I don’t believe AS really believes that. He’s just trying out shrill punditry like he does with most of his posts.

  2. Duck! Cheney’s got a gun!

    So much for local control. While the local communities are strongly against this the Bush Administration, their corporate interests groups in the oil & gas industry, and a few out of touch state legislators are pushing even harder. Thier greed will hurt not only the Western Slope, but all of Colorado.

  3. Let’s get this straight.  Mark Udall and John Salazar have been telling anyone and everyone who will listen that THEY were going to stop drilling on the Roan.  They concoct a half-wit plan to put a lock on funding for the BLM’s leasing program (for this area) for one year — in hopes that a democrat would take the whitehouse in 2008.  While many of us didn’t agree with the premise, we at least thought that they (as members of the majority in Congress) had that right.  NOW, they (or their staffs?) don’t even know how to write an amendment that offsets spending.  Wow.  How long has Udall been in Congress?  We give Salazar a pass because everyone in his district already knows that he doesn’t know how to legislate.  As for Udall?  No excuses.  They can blame this on Dick Cheney all they want but we’re not buying it.  Someone dropped the ball and I’ll be the enviros are pissed!  I would be if I were a trust funder that’s spent a good portion of my monthly stipend fighting this fight. 

    2. You know FAR too much on this topic to be an average citizen.  Even unaverage.  What is your rabid interest, and why the need to create your sock puppets?  Oh….

    3. “While many of us didn’t agree with the premise”

      While many of you in the oil & gas lobby may not agree with it, it doesn’t give you the right to impose such a horrendous operation on our state. You’ve done enough good to keep us busy cleaning up your mess for the next 50 years.

      Your empty suit attacks upon those are looking out for the best interests of this state is absolutely appalling.

      Tell Penry he’s going to have a hard tell selling his voters on his get rich quick scheme. We’re not going to tell voters forget his plan for filling our atmosphere with 80time more carbon dioxide, wasting all the western slope water and costing them 3times as much in electricity costs.

      1. “In the West, when you touch water, you touch everything.”

        You would think one who would use Aspinall’s name would understand his life long battle to protect west slope water and the environment. He didn’t want to hand it over to corporatists and private interests for monetary gain at the expense of ultimately killing the western slope economy and sustainablity for a livable environment.

        But, you could really care less about history, or the future of the western slope for that matter. “Aspinall Dem” would rather sell out to the corporatists for a get rich quick scheme.

        But I’ve got to ask what would Wayne Aspinall do?

    4. Actually there is no $10 million revenue to be found in the budget to suggest that there would be a need to offset revenue from leasing that has not yet occurred nor will necessarily occur in 2008.  There are no similar CBO notes attached to many other amendments that could also have such theoretical impacts on revenue.  The note showed up about 10 PM in the middle of the floor debate, as it were, with no time to react.  It was geared specifically to kill this, at the last minute, when no one could challenge its bogus numbers–that undoubtedly would dissolve under scrutiny. 

  4. Hopefully, Udall or salazar hears it and thinks.

    I really wish that the dems would not do this

    Instead, they should have the laws change to say that BEST available tech will be used (as opposed to lowest costs approach) as well as requiring that the company be the WHOLE company (not a subsidiary) and finally requiring that the CEO put it on the line. Once you hold companies and CEO responsible (i.e. jail time and HUGE fines if they screw up), then reasonable drilling will be done. In particular, they would use slant drilling from a single site. In addition, not chemical dilution (I do know not what the compounds are, but most likely some form of a benzine or phenol). If the drilling can not be accomplished legally, cleanly, AND safely, then companies will not do it due to being held liable.

    That is the real problem in America. The business world is not held accountable. In every case, a subsidiary is created and all responsibility is removed. Even the concept of a INC removes that. Worse, you look at the fact that W. removed all the cleanliness requirements for drilling and you understand that politicians are just as bad ( and the dems gave us the wonderful DMCA, fought the original EPA creation,  amongst other nightmares ).


    If udall/salazar were to push this, then everybody wins. After all, who would fight this? We need to keep our environment clean. Or are the houston businesses going to rule our water and lands? I suspect that anybody fights something like this would have to do a LOT of explaining at the next election.

  5. Ken Salazar is going to hold up the nomination of Kathleen Clarke for BLM Director, until the DOI gives Ritter enough time to review the Roan Plateau Management Resource Plan.

    Ritter has requested 120 days to review the plan.  Although this doesn’t stop BLM from moving forward, it shows “that there are serious consequences for their disregard of the opinions of the people of Colorado”.

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