As of April 3, after two decades of sweat and tears, the Thompson Divide was guaranteed protection from future mineral leasing — well, at least for the next 20 years.
“The Biden-Harris administration today [April 3] took action to finalize protections for the Thompson Divide area in central Colorado, one of the state’s most cherished landscapes, known for its ranching heritage and grazing lands, important wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities and clean water,” read a press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
“Federal law provides the Secretary of the Interior authority to administratively withdraw lands from mining and oil and gas leasing for a period of up to 20 years,” a press release from Wilderness Workshop (WW) clarified. That is exactly what the department did in the case of the Thompson Divide.
Peter Hart, an attorney with WW since 2007, recalled the formative days of the Thompson Divide Coalition which grew from a myriad of folks from different walks of life.
In the late 1990s, WW was conducting inventories of local public lands to better engage in an ongoing revision of the Forest Plan. Through that process, Sloan Shoemaker, WW’s first full-time employee, and others began to really understand the ecological value of the Thompson Divide.
“It was this big swath of mid-elevation forest land with large chunks that hadn’t been torn up or fragmented by roads,” said Hart. “That is an increasingly rare combination in this state.”
In 2002, after the Forest Service instituted its new Forest Plan and former President George W. Bush was elected, there was a “leasing frenzy,” according to Hart, including the Bush administration selling “a bunch of oil and gas leases up in the Thompson Divide.”
“Those oil and gas leases captured the attention of the local community as well,” said Hart. “People more broadly than just WW began to understand the threat posed to this landscape … and the local people’s way of life.”
“I think the most telling thing … is how unified the broader community was behind this issue,” he continued. “When the Thompson Divide Coalition began it was a coalition of strange bedfellows.” Public lands advocates, water advocates, ranchers, snowmobilers, hunters and fishers, Republicans and Democrats, along with other interest groups continue to make up the Thompson Divide Coalition.
Their efforts have been steady and have resulted in milestones of success over the years. Hart pointed out that there used to be a lot more leases (roughly 80) in the Thompson Divide than there are today.
“There has not been a lease sale for any acreage in the Thompson Divide since 2007,” he stated. Those most recent leases were purchased by Gunnison Energy in the Upper North Fork and Clear Creek area.
There are still about nine exploratory oil and gas leases within the administrative withdrawal boundary. However, most of these leases only partially overlap the boundary with large portions outside of it.
There are another 11 storage leases associated with the Wolf Creek Storage Field. The storage leases are a result of drilling in the 1970s and wells that eventually dried up. Today, the Wolf Creek facility stores natural gas produced further west in the Piceance Basin. The gas is stored through the summer and distributed in the winter to help heat people’s homes in the Valley. The coalition has not contested the site because it’s already existing infrastructure.
Likewise, “The administrative withdrawal is subject to all valid existing rights,” clarified Hart. “That basically means that that storage facility won’t be impacted. Neither will the handful of leases that still exist. If an operator wants to come in and drill those exploratory leases and they’re valid existing rights, they have the right to do that.” He added that there is some controversy as to whether or not all of the existing leases are valid.
A lease expires after 10 years if exploration has not commenced within that time. Once oil or gas is discovered, the lease holder can maintain that lease as long as production continues. Around 2012, developers began filing drilling proposals, possibly in hopes that the federal agencies would suspend the deadlines. The coalition pushed back, which ultimately resulted in the cancellation of many of the leases. However, a few suspensions were granted.
The Forest Service manages the surface lands and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages the subsurface. “So, moving forward, if a lease holder wanted to drill on those exploratory leases, the Forest Service would have to approve a surface use plan of operations and the BLM would have to approve the drilling operations,” explained Hart.
“This is a long-term administrative protection. It’s protection from the threat of future leasing — more protection than the Divide has had before,” Hart said of the federal administrative withdrawal. But, he added, “We still haven’t achieved the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to secure a congressional withdrawal that would be permanent.”
The Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act, which includes permanent protection of the Thompson Divide, has yet to pass congress after multiple attempts initiated by Senator Michael Bennet and Representative Joe Neguse.
“The administrative withdrawal gives us 20 years of certainty that there will be no new leases issued, and it gives us 20 years to secure that permanent protection,” concluded Hart.
“This withdrawal is the culmination of a 17 year grassroots effort and is fantastic news for our community,” said Carbondale rancher Bill Fales. “It will protect the Thompson Divide which is so important to our Valley. This withdrawal will preserve the grazing so vital to our ranches. It will save our wildlife from additional pressures. It will protect the water supply for our towns and ranches and this withdrawal will protect the beauty of this area that is so vital to our recreation economy. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to our senators, especially Senator Bennet, who has worked on this for so long and to Senator Hickenlooper and Congressman Neguse for advancing the legislation so far. While we celebrate this milestone, we also look forward to the day when we can achieve permanent protection for the Thompson Divide.”
It’s certainly been, and will continue to be, a team effort.
For more on the Thompson Divide Coalition, visit www.thompsondivide.org
