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There may not be a
distinct Michigan connection to the Roan Plateau of western Colorado, but I feel
it is important for those who have commented on ANWR in Alaska to be aware of
it.
Bill
Collins
Huron
Ecologic, LLC
3335 Crooks Road Rochester Hills, Michigan 48309 USA phone & fax: 248-852-4682 e-mail: huronecologic@netzero.net Huron Ecologic provides
wetland delineations, wetland permitting, wetland mitigation design &
monitoring, tree inventories, botanical & ecological surveys, natural area
protection, nature education, and technical training.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The full article is
available at:
Gas Industry
Covets a Colorado Plateau
By Judith Kohler The Associated Press Sunday 28
December 2003
Site is home to elk, deer, mountain lions, bears -- and a big supply of clean-burning natural gas. Tourism boosts area's economy.
PARACHUTE, Colo. — From the ground, the Roan Plateau is a craggy mass of
tree-dotted rock that rises half a mile out of the high desert of western
Colorado. From the air, however, it is 54,000 acres of green rolling hills and
valleys that are home to wildlife such as elk, deer, mountain lions, peregrine
falcons and bears. Rain that falls on the 9,000-foot plateau nurtures patches of
aspen and Douglas fir, intermingled with scrub oak and
sagebrush.
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With the
Roan Plateau, it's all about perspective. To energy companies and the Bush
administration, it is a key plank in the drive for U.S. energy independence,
because it sits atop a mother lode of clean-burning natural
gas. To
others, the plateau is a haven for wildlife and the cornerstone of the region's
$3.8-million-a-year hunting industry. They fear that the plateau is being
sacrificed in a mad dash to develop rather than conserve
energy.
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Four
years ago, the Bureau of Land Management said 22,000 acres of the plateau had
characteristics of wilderness, a designation that would bar development. Such
protection seems increasingly unlikely. The agency is considering a plan that could
add 800 to 1,600 gas wells on 73,600 acres of federal land near and atop the
plateau. A draft plan is expected to be issued in January. The bureau dropped an option,
backed by city governments in surrounding Garfield County, that would have
banned drilling on top of the plateau. Dan Richardson, a Glenwood Springs city
councilman who led the no-drilling campaign, said he believed the high-profile
fight to develop Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge had distracted the
public from places like the Roan Plateau.
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Environmentalists believe that what happens in the gas-rich Uinta-Piceance
Basin, which includes the Roan Plateau, could influence decisions about other
Western public land under scrutiny by energy companies and the Bush
administration. The U.S. Geological Survey says the basin holds 21 trillion cubic feet
of recoverable natural gas. The Roan Plateau alone contains at least 5 trillion
cubic feet — enough to heat 75 million homes for a
year.
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