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July 21, 2001 By Janelle Holden Nearly 50,000 acres of San Juan National Forest in Dolores County has been nominated for oil and gas speculation this year, 10 times the norm. According to John Reidinger, a lands and minerals forester at the Dolores Public Lands Center, large sections of the forest that stretch from Ferris Canyon to Benchmark Lookout and across the Glade have been nominated as potential sites for the federal government to lease. "I’ve never had this much interest," said Reidinger, who normally reviews 5,000 acres of nominated leases a year. Both private citizens and industry officials can nominate areas of the forest for lease by auction. Reidinger said the acreages under consideration have not been nominated by one single industry source. The BLM manages the mineral rights of federally owned lands and evaluates the nominations based on whether oil and gas development would conflict with other forest uses. Stipulations such as restricting surface occupancy or the time of year drilling can occur may appear on the leases. Reidinger’s recommendations will be reviewed by the BLM, but much if not all of the 50,000 acres could be leased at auction. "There’s been a lot of historic drilling on the forest," explained Reidinger, who said interest "comes in waves" as gas and oil prices go up. "Every decade has had its own spurt." According to the BLM, the number of federal oil and gas leases auctioned off across the state has more than doubled since 2000. In November 2000, 84 leases sold. One hundred fifteen were sold in February 2001, and 191 in May. A spike in the price of oil and gas in 2000 is being blamed for the renewed interest, but environmental groups say Presi-dent Bush’s pro-oil energy plan has also spurred new interest. "Not since James Watt’s been in office has there been such a favorable time for the industry to go after the public lands," explained Travis Stills, research director for Durango’s oil and gas accountability project. But forest supervisor Cal Joyner said it’s a matter of simple economics, not politics. "We anticipated that when gas prices basically quadrupled in the last year, many areas that had been marginally economic to explore or potentially develop suddenly become economic, so, no, we’re not surprised at all," Joyner said. The next auction of leases will be held Aug. 9. It includes many tracts of land in Dolores County, and one that could affect a proposed development south of Benchmark Lookout. In May, Colorado Land and Ranches purchased the surface rights to a 3,000-acre ranch south of Benchmark Lookout with plans to develop it into 87 lots, but most of the property’s mineral rights are owned by the federal government. The BLM plans to auction off part of the ranch’s mineral rights on Aug. 9, leaving a potential conflict between whoever leases the mineral rights and Colorado Land and Ranches. Competitive and non-competitive leases are issued for 10 years, but may continue as long as oil and gas is being produced. |
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