For immediate release Sept. 29, 2008

Contact: Steven Hall, 303-239-3672

Roan Plateau leases issued--State of Colorado to receive nearly $56 million

LAKEWOOD—The Bureau of Land Management today issued oil and natural gas leases for the Roan Plateau following the resolution of protests of the Aug. 14 sale by the Department of the Interior. The $113.9 million lease sale was the largest onshore revenue generator in BLM history (excluding Alaska).  The State of Colorado will receive 49 percent of the lease sale revenue, approximately $56 million.

“We appreciate the time and attention the public has given to the Roan Plateau planning process over the last 10 years, and we look forward to continuing to work with local and state governments on future, site specific management of the Roan Plateau,” Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals Management C. Stephen Allred said. “While this is an important step, issuing these leases does not authorize drilling. Additional environmental analysis and public planning will occur prior to any drilling on the Roan Plateau.”

The Roan Plateau lease sale culminates an 8 year, public planning effort by the BLM. Legislation introduced by the Colorado Congressional delegation in 1997 transferred the Naval Oil Shale Reserves 1 and 3 to the BLM. The Transfer Act stated “beginning on the date of enactment of this section, or as soon as practicable, the Secretary of the Interior shall enter into leases” for development and production of oil and natural gas. Since then, the BLM has worked with local and state governments, constituent groups and the public to craft one of the most environmentally sensitive resource management plans authorizing oil and natural gas development in the BLM’s history.

Copies of the Department of the Interior’s response to the protests can be found online at: http://www.blm.gov/rmp/co/roanplateau/protests.htm.

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Roan Plateau Background:
The $113.9 million onshore federal oil and gas lease sale is more than twice the previous national high of $53 million and more than 10 times the previous Colorado record of $11 million.  The $11 million sale leased 160,273 acres-well over the Roan Plateau lease sale of 54,631 acres.  To put this in perspective even further, the $53 million sale involved more than 396,000 acres, fully six times the acreage of the Roan sale. 

Management of the Roan Plateau, which includes Naval Oil Shale Reserves 1 and 3, was transferred to the BLM by Congress in 1997, with direction to offer oil and gas leases for the Naval Oil Shale Reserves “as soon as practicable.”

The BLM’s plan includes strict environmental protections, placing more than half of the 73,602-acre area off limits to surface disturbance and restricting development on top of the plateau to existing road corridors and ridge tops.

The Roan plan is expected to generate 1.79 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over the 20-year life of the plan. The area contains an estimated 8.9 TCF of recoverable natural gas.

The Roan is expected to generate between $857 million to $1.13 billion in royalties and lease revenue over the next 20 years, 49 percent of which will go to the State of Colorado.

Key elements of the Roan Plateau plan include:
· Development on top of the plateau will be confined to existing road corridors, with disturbance limited to approximately 1%, or 350 acres on top at any one time.
· More than 50 percent – 38,470 acres - of the planning area is stipulated no surface occupancy.
· Development on top of the Plateau will be conducted in a staged, ridge-by-ridge approach, with well pads more than ½ miles apart to minimize wildlife habitat fragmentation.
· Leases for the top of the Plateau will require operators to enter into a single federal unit, with consolidation of planning and operations under a single unit operator. This more efficient approach  reduces impacts to other natural resources by consolidating infrastructure and providing for a more orderly, planned development.
In 2007, the State of Colorado received $123 million in federal mineral payments. 

The federal government has paid $2.39 billion in mineral royalties, bonus payments and rental fees to Colorado since 1922.
Statewide, BLM accounts for about 11.5 percent of new oil and gas wells. In 2007, the State of Colorado processed 6,368 applications for drilling permits, compared to 733 on federal lands or federal minerals. The remaining wells are on state-owned or private lands.

A lawsuit challenging the Roan Plateau planning decision has been filed by a consortium of environmental organizations.

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