Critics wants Thompson Divide Coalition to expand reach, get more aggressive
An environmental group that’s leading the
effort to prevent natural-gas drilling in Thompson Divide has come under
fire by other activists for not being aggressive or inclusive enough.
Activist Anita Sherman, of Glenwood
Springs, claimed that the Thompson Divide Coalition has a flawed
strategy of trying to save a relatively small portion of the White River
National Forest without looking at the big picture of what’s happening
in western Garfield County.
The coalition is focused on the fate of
221,500 acres of national forest that stretches from Sunlight Mountain
Resort outside of Glenwood Springs to McClure Pass outside of Redstone.
About 88,100 acres of that land is in Pitkin County, west of Carbondale.
Sherman said she first pressed
Thompson Divide officials in 2012 on whether they would help prevent oil
and gas development elsewhere in the national forest, in areas around
New Castle, Silt, Rifle and elsewhere.
“I started expressing my concerns
that Thompson Divide Coalition was sending mixed messages downvalley
with people thinking Unified for the Divide would save their
communities,” Sherman said. “Unified for the Thompson Divide shouldn’t
include sacrificing other locations that no one on TDC or the
legislators they were lobbying seemed open to talk about.”
Concerns boils to criticism
Her concerns boiled over to an all-out
criticism of Thompson Divide Coalition earlier this month. She wrote an
article for the website “From the Styx” that pulled no punches in
criticizing the coalition’s strategy. The website is an exchange of
information among opponents of oil and gas development in western
Garfield County.
“Will someone from the Thompson
Divide Coalition answer this question: What good is your strategy when
the areas around the Thompson Divide wilderness area are drilled,
spilled, fracked, and attacked?” Sherman wrote. The article was titled,
“A ‘Unified’ whomp upside TDC’s head.”
The searing article came out on
the eve of hearings held by the Bureau of Land Management in Glenwood
Springs, Carbondale and Aspen to take public comment on the fate of 65
parcels in the national forest that were leased to gas companies between
1995 and 2004. A federal board found the environmental review process
connected to the leases was flawed. The BLM is now engaging in an
environmental study.
While only 25 of the 65 gas leases are in
Thompson Divide, many of the comments delivered to the BLM focused on
protecting that area. Thompson Divide Coalition was among groups that
rallied members to the hearings.
Carbondale-based Wilderness Workshop is
also heavily invested in preventing drilling in Thompson Divide, though
it has fought gas development throughout the White River National
Forest.
Focused on a special place
Thompson Divide Coalition Executive
Director Zane Kessler said he wouldn’t engage in a battle of words with
Sherman in a newspaper article. However, he provided statements from
himself and from Dorothea Farris, a member of Thompson Divide Coalition
board of directors, that made it clear the coalition will keep its focus
on one special place. It will continue to work with gas companies and
Colorado’s Congressional delegation to try to end leasing of public
lands in Thompson Divide and retire existing leases.
“We’re humbled by the
overwhelming support — at the local, state and national levels — for
our ongoing efforts. TDC will continue to work with all stakeholders to
find common-sense solutions that protect this area for the enjoyment of
generations to come.”
Thompson Divide Coalition is following a
two-pronged strategy to try to prevent gas production in the area. It
worked with U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet to get legislation introduced that
would limit future leasing in Thompson Divide. U.S. Sen. Mark Udall
later signed on as a co-sponsor with his fellow Colorado Democrat.
Meanwhile, Thompson Divide is
negotiating with gas companies Ursa and SG Interests to try to buy and
retire their existing leases.
The coalition’s staff and board
of directors typically avoid criticism of the gas companies in any
public forum. However, the group tried to apply not-so-subtle pressure
by producing a third-party economic study that questioned if an
economically feasible production of natural gas was possible in Thompson
Divide. Pitkin County commissioned an independent study that reached
the same conclusion.
The part of the coalition’s
strategy that particularly rankles fellow activists is the claim that
gas drilling is appropriate in some placed, but not Thompson Divide.
Pushing for tougher regs
Sherman is part of a faction that claims
oil and gas opponents must take direct action in local and state
politics to regulate the gas industry on all public and private lands.
They claim that legislators on the local, state and national level
cannot be trusted because they are under the influence of Big Oil.
“Our families, friends,
businesses and properties throughout Garfield, Mesa, Gunnison, Pitkin,
and Delta Counties — outside the Divide’s borders — are under
legislative attack by the same toxic-trespasser-lovin’ legislators the
TDC’s strategists want to trust,” Sherman wrote in her April 15 article.
Sherman does more than talk
tough. She is a plaintiff in a planned class-action lawsuit that will
challenge the constitutionality of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation
Commission. She and other plaintiffs filed a notice of intent to sue in
the U.S. District Court of Colorado.
Sherman also is involved in
resident initiatives that will attempt to beef up regulations on the gas
industry by asking voters to approve amendments to the Colorado
Constitution.
In addition, she heads the Garfield
Transparency Initiative, a watchdog group that monitors local government
actions related to the gas industry.
When asked how many people share
her perspectives, Sherman responded, “Based on local, state, national
and global concerns, I’d say there are many people who share my belief
that there are no appropriate places to poison people for profit.”
Her views are shared with others
in Colorado. The Denver Business Journal recently reported “more than a
dozen ballot proposals dealing with the oil and gas industry have been
filed at the Colorado Secretary of State’s office for possible placement
on the November election ballot.”
Well-intentioned but misplaced
Aaron Milton, a former gas-patch worker
who is now an activist against drilling in western Garfield County, said
he agrees with the view that Thompson Divide cannot be viewed as an
island. His particular area of interest and expertise is air quality.
Milton, a Glenwood Springs resident, contends that gas production
throughout the Western Slope will pump hydrocarbons into the air —
including in the Roaring Fork Valley. Focusing on prevention of drilling
in Thompson Divide addresses only a small part of the problem, he said.
“They’re going to gas the entire valley. That’s what people don’t understand,” Milton said.
Milton shares Sherman’s view that Thompson
Divide Coalition is wasting its time by trying to buy out the leases
and not being aggressive enough in the political arena, but he isn’t as
critical with his critique.
“I tried to work with the Thompson Divide
Coalition from the get-go,” he said. “They didn’t really want to take a
political stance on it.”
The money that Thompson Divide
Coalition is collecting to potentially buy leases could be better-spent
rallying residents all over the West Slope and pursuing regulatory
action, he said. He would like to see the money used to establish
baseline data on air and water quality — for a broader region, not just
in and around the Divide.
Milton said its his opinion that
the BLM illegally sold the 65 leases in the White River National Forest,
so it’s the agency’s responsibility to address them. “All of those
illegal leases should be voided and they should give them their money
back,” he said.
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