FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2004
Contact: Josh Freed
(202) 225-4431

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO)released the following prepared statement regarding Bureau of Land Management's oil and gas lease sale of Colorado wild lands:
The May lease sale that the Bush Administration’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has proposed is nothing if not clear. Five pristine areas that would be protected by my legislation, the Colorado Wilderness Act of 2004 (H.R. 2305), now face an immediate threat from drilling.

Let me be equally clear: I recognize that it is not a mistake that these lands were offered for drilling. And I intend to fight to protect them.

I understand the need for increased energy production and support drilling in areas that are not environmentally sensitive. But a recent report verifies what many of us have suspected – many existing gas and oil leases have not been tapped. It is unconscionable when more suitable acreage is simply lying fallow to pursue a single use strategy for these remarkable areas.

The BLM is acting like nothing more than a permit agency that rubber-stamps every proposed lease sale put before it. What is troubling is that the BLM has already issued 100s of leases on lands not slated for protection where production has not begun. Before we even study whether drilling should take place on wild lands, the BLM should concentrate energy development on lands that are already leased.

This approach sacrifices every other current use of these lands, including economically important ventures like ranching and outfitting. The next four speakers will attest to the values these lands possess and the many uses they currently enjoy.

Interestingly, the Administration’s moves have provided us with what some would consider unlikely allies. Many people who live on the Western slope are supportive of permanent protection for these pristine places. They have faced an onslaught of new drilling projects in their very backyards. Anglers, outfitters, hunters, ranchers. Even the Colorado Farm Bureau has expressed serious concern about the dangers that oil and gas development pose.

The May lease sale is the opening salvo in what promises to be a long battle over the course of a long, hot summer – a summer that will see the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. I look forward to working with the traditional friends of wilderness and my newfound allies.

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