April 12, 2013 11:10 AM UTC

Colorado BLM communication director ducks issues, local concerns on controversial drilling plans

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• by: checks-and-balances

This week Steven Hall, Communications Director for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Colorado State Director Helen Hankins, lashed out at the Checks and Balances Project for questioning his boss’s land use decisions. Unfortunately, rather than offer a counterpoint, or even simply more information, Hall ducked the issue, preferring to play the victim.

According to Scott Streater's story in E&E, Hall says, Checks and Balances Project "have substituted personal attacks for public debate." Anyone who reads our recent post on this issue – or any of our posts on Colorado BLM – can see that we stick to policy and focus on facts. Facts being what Hall failed to reference in his emotional response to our latest post.

This isn’t the first time that Hall has used rhetoric to avoid substance when discussing critical drilling and leasing issues. When Hall was asked about proposed drilling parcels within yards of schools and straddling irrigation ditches that many organic farms rely upon, he flippantly commented that the leases were probably controversial because: “…if you walk out of the High Country News with your cup of herbal tea you can see some of these parcels.” Hall’s response dismissed valid concerns from residents, business owners, farmers and ranchers about fracking’s impacts on their water and lands.

Even after these sensitive leases were deferred last February, in response to public outcry, Hall said: “The deferral is not permanent.”

Under Dir. Helen Hankins’ watch, Colorado BLM has a disturbing record of offering drilling leases on sensitive land, at the behest of big oil and gas interests. In 2012, they proposed leases near Dinosaur National Monument and Mesa Verde National Park – against the wishes of the National Park Service (NPS), Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and La Plata County officials. Perhaps this is why, according to the Wilderness Society, Dir. Hankins’ policies have resulted in protests against 85 percent of Colorado leases in fiscal year 2012, compared to 33 percent throughout the rest of the Rocky Mountain region.