bureau of land management
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Gardner: Progress on BLM move, farm bill and ‘we won’t give up’ on LWCF
Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Yuma on Saturday updated members of the West Slope advocacy group Club 20 efforts to make Grand Junction the next home of the federal Bureau of Land Management. He also spoke to Colorado Politics about the efforts to renew the Land and Water Conservation Fund (hopeful) and the status of…
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Tipton bill to protect landowners near federal property wins first approval
WASHINGTON – A congressional bill to protect property owners’ rights during federal land acquisitions won first round approval Thursday but drew only cautious support from a major Colorado environmental group. The bill was introduced by Colorado U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, who is a member of the House Natural Resources subcommittee on federal lands. The…
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Environmental group puts up Pueblo billboard to defend Great Sand Dunes
As vehicles zip through Pueblo burning fossil fuels, the Denver-based Center for Western Priorities has a new billboard along Interstate 25 announcing its “Don’t Drill Our Parks” campaign. The advertising features the Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado. The Bureau of Land Management is considering leasing out parcels for oil and gas development…
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‘Methane rule’ for oil and gas is a safeguard for Coloradans’ health
The Bureau of Land Management’s Methane Waste and Prevention Rule is the epitome of common sense. It requires oil and gas companies that maintain operations on tribal and federal public lands – land that is technically owned by the nation’s taxpayers – to use modern and cost-effective technologies to cut waste. This includes stopping leaks…
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Fed plan to allow drilling near Colorado’s Sangres, Dunes poses epic eco peril
The Bureau of Land Management is scheduled to lease mineral rights for oil and gas exploration on 11 land parcels totaling 18,358 acres in Huerfano County come this fall. Four of the parcels border the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness Area and all 11 are within eight miles of the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Every…
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Bureau of Land Management considers moving police to a western state
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is considering a move of the headquarters of its law enforcement program to a western state, one of the agency’s top officials said Wednesday during a U.S. Senate hearing. The announcement coincides with a reorganization of the BLM that its administrator has said is likely to include moving its…
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Colorado Senate Democrats take a stand on the Great Sand Dunes
Every Democrat in the Colorado Senate has signed a letter opposing the Trump administration’s proposal to sell off public land for energy development near Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. But Gov. John Hickenlooper is not joining them in challenging the plan, noting that the parcels involved are on the opposite side of the…
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TIPTON: Time to move the Bureau of Land Management west
Over the past few years, one question I have often heard in the 3rd District is: why are the federal departments that have jurisdiction over most Western lands headquartered in Washington, D.C. rather than in Western states? Particularly, why is the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) headquartered in Washington, when 99 percent…
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Colorado regional advisory councils for BLM frustrated with Trump administration
The citizen councils in Colorado created to advise the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on local issues have been blocked from meeting for a year by Trump administration reviews and delays, setting off protests and resignations. The regional advisory councils, or RACs, were created by statute in 1995. There are three in Colorado-one each…
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Interior boss Ryan Zinke says he’s still looking westward for new digs
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is pressing ahead with a massive overhaul of his department, despite growing opposition to his proposal to move hundreds of public employees out of Washington and possibly to Colorado or elsewhere in the West. Zinke wants to divide most of the department’s 70,000 employees and their responsibilities into 13 regions based…