North Fork Opponents of the SGI Gas Lease Swap State Their Case

North Fork Opponents of the SGI Gas Lease Swap State Their Case

By Thomas Wills

(Note:  CHC has since taken a board vote in opposition to deal on the land swap.  Story here:  /chc-clarifies-position-on-sgi-lease-exchange-no-longer-supports-trade-off/ )

Longtime local conservationists Bill Day, Jane McGarry and Robin Nicholoff  have marked out a position on the proposed SGI gas lease swap of leases in the Thompson Divide area, strongly opposed by a conservation group there, for some 30,000 acres of USFS leases directly north of Paonia. The open paragraph of their manifesto flier entitled “Stop the Swap: Why We Oppose the Gas Lease Exchange,”   frames the issue as they see it:

“The thirty-thousand plus acres in Delta, Gunnison and Mesa counties, about 50 square miles, proposed by SGI for gas leasing in exchange for giving up Thompson Divide areas includes aspen/spruce forests and rolling open parklands dotted with ponds and crossed by creeks including the East and West Muddy Creeks, Terror Creek, Buzzard Creek and Hubbard Creek.  It is “just about the nicest country in Delta County,” says a local bird expert.  Mule deer, elk and bear are plentiful.  Lynx migration routes cross the region.  These national forest lands are used extensively for hunting, camping, fishing and outdoor recreation by thousands of local residents and an influx of visitors every fall for hunting season.  The proposed swap leaves these lands essentially unprotected. “

It is also observed that:  “This West Muddy Country is also home to a unique population of purple martins, a swallow species studied by the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory.The large stand of climax aspens adjoining large, open parks in this area support the world’s largest concentration of Western Purple Martins outside of a thin strip of the coastal Northwest. “

The three conclude that in their opinion the swap is a losing proposition for the Valley and Delta County:  “Delta County is growing a successful, diverse economy that includes hunting, tourism, agriculture, traditional coal mining, and solar energy development.  Why risk all of this? What will Delta County gain by the lease swap? Road development, habitat loss, wildlife loss, truck traffic, and possible catastrophic water contamination.”

In the meantime the local gas development watchdog group, Citizens for a Heathy Community (CHC), were the ones who worked with the County Commissioners to develop the proposed compromise of including some requests for mineral withdrawals and other protection for adjacent lands as well as for a selection of public lands that descend down to the Valley floor around Paonia.  The opponents don’t see much benefit from the compromise items and note that Rep. Scott Tipton does not support anything but a straight swap, as does SGI.  And even if the compromise passed through Congress: “it is the expressed opinion of many geologists and Delta County officials that gas reserves are scant in the Valley floor, and it is unlikely there would be any economic return to gas development there.”

More information about the area in question is available from Bill Day of the Black Canyon Audubon Society at www.mulepark.wordpress.com.