The Grand Mesa Slopes tower stunningly above the Grand Valley in western Colorado. The area is home to a great diversity of forest types and wildlife habitat, ranging from pinon-juniper at lower elevations to spruce and fir near the mesa's rim. Elevations across 80 square miles of mixed ownership range from 5,000 feet to more than 10,000 feet on top of the Grand Mesa. The Grand Mesa Slope's size, accessibility, and proximity to Grand Junction make it a popular destination for traditional "quiet use" recreational opportunities, such as hiking, hunting, and horseback riding.

More important, the Grand Mesa Slopes makes up a major part of the municipal watershed for the city of Grand Junction and the town of Palisade. In the early 20th century, the city of Grand Junction sought out and invested in this mountain water source after years of problems associated with taking municipal water directly from the silt-laden Grand River (now the Colorado River). The city recently calculated the value of its water rights at a conservative $183,915,000.

There are more suitable and less risky areas available for drilling, with literally hundreds of thousands of acres in Colorado that have been leased but have not yet drilled.

Gas drilling is an industrial activity and should not be allowed in a watershed that provides clean drinking water to city residents. Oil and gas operations require an average of seven acres of ground disturbance per gas well. This includes building a road to access the site, leveling a well pad, and connecting pipelines to the well. Such extensive ground disturbance can lead to increased sediment in the area's streams.

Oil and gas operations use drilling fluids that can be highly toxic. Hydraulic fracturing treatments use from 50,000 to 500,000 gallons of fluids containing chemical mixtures that are forced under high pressure to fracture gas-producing formations. Only a portion of the mixture is recovered and stored in open waste pits for reuse or until it evaporates or is hauled away. The rest remains underground.

A municipal watershed is not an appropriate place for a polluting industry that is prone to accidents. Since 2002, the industry has self-reported more than 1,000 accidental spills in Colorado. Many spills go unreported. Of those that were reported, 183 spills have resulted in contamination of surface or ground water, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (see http://oil-gas.state.co.us/).  In western Colorado, gas drilling over the past two years has caused several highly publicized accidents, toxic spills, underground and surface water contamination, explosions, and fires.

There are more suitable and less risky areas available for drilling, with literally hundreds of thousands of acres in Colorado that have been leased but have not yet drilled. In the arid West, where water is the most precious resource, drilling in a municipal watershed is not necessary or prudent.

The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Grand Junction Resource Management Plan was written in 1987. The Plan needs to be amended or rewritten to ensure strong protection before any portions of the watershed are leased for energy development. 

In 1993, the Grand Mesa Slopes special area management plan was adopted as an amendment to the BLM's Resource Management Plan. The BLM's Grand Junction office signed the Grand Mesa Slopes agreement with the town of Palisade, the city of Grand Junction, Mesa County, and more than 30 other stakeholder organizations.

The Grand Mesa Slopes agreement mandates that watershed management is the "dominant" land use in the area. It states that mineral withdrawal or other appropriate restriction (such as "No Surface Occupancy" stipulations) "will be recommended (to BLM/USFS) at locations where recreational, wildlife, livestock, or municipal water facilities exist or are to be developed, or at other locations where special protection is deemed desirable."

The 1996 amendment to the Clean Water Act led to an agreement signed by the Department of the Interior on behalf of the BLM and five other federal agencies stating they will work with local governments to protect source water areas. The BLM should be a partner in helping Palisade and Grand Junction protect their water supply.

The Kannah Creek Roadless Area makes up a large part of the Grand Junction watershed. The contested 2001 National Forest Roadless Rule protects this and other roadless areas around the country by, among other things, barring any new road building to develop new oil and gas leases. 

Areas within the Grand Mesa Slopes do receive protection through municipal watershed ordinances. The state of Colorado allows for municipalities to ensure protection five miles from their water intake - even on federal land. Similar laws have been challenged by the federal government, but the Supreme Court has found that cities must have the ability to protect their water and, therefore, their watersheds. The town of Palisade and the city of Grand Junction have joined more than 40 other towns and cities in Colorado in passing a watershed ordinance. Although a watershed ordinance cannot stop drilling altogether, it can put additional restrictions and protections in place to protect the water from contamination. Other protections available, but not required, for municipal watersheds include No Surface Occupancy provisions to protect municipal watersheds and steep slopes, and protections for scenic and natural values and deer and elk winter range.

In 2005, the Bush administration attempted to repeal the 2001 National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which protected inventoried roadless areas in national forests from road building to access new oil and gas leases, and tried to replace it with a process in which governors had to file petitions in order to protect roadless lands. However, while federal roadless policy continues to fluctuate, public support for roadless protection continues to be strong. Colorado citizens commenting on the 2001 Roadless Rule, on subsequent proposals for new roadless regulations, and as part of the Governor's Roadless Review Task Force petition process have, in very large majorities and with knowledge of the lands involved, called for the certain, complete, and enduring protection of roadless areas. Although the Bush administration claims it wants decisions about local oil and gas drilling to be made by the locals themselves, lands are being auctioned off before local decisions are completed and the legal uncertainties over the Roadless Rule, and the Governor's process that was to replace it, have been resolved.

In February 2006, the BLM leased 13,000 acres of the Grand Mesa Slopes within Palisade's and Grand Junction's designated watershed. The leases were protested by the city of Grand Junction, the town of Palisade, and Western Colorado Congress, but the protests were denied.

To maintain and protect municipal watersheds, federal forest and energy managers should adjust their decision-making about oil and gas leasing and about other potentially damaging intrusions. As part of that protection, the BLM should immediately withdraw the leases within the Palisade and Grand Junction designated watersheds.

In addition, the U.S. Forest Service and the BLM should abide by the protections provided by the 2001 Roadless Rule. Under the 2001 Rule, any new oil and gas leases in roadless areas must carry explicit and permanent stipulations barring new roadbuilding. The Kannah Creek Roadless Area is a key component of the Grand Junction municipal watershed. Keeping that area free of oil and gas drilling would protect the roadless values there and help maintain the high quality water supply for western Colorado's largest community.

Under pressure from the City of Grand Junction, the Town of Palisade, and concerned citizens, federal managers and the company planning new drilling in the watershed have produced a report suggesting measures that could protect the water and watershed. Although any of those suggestions are helpful, they will be reliable and effective only if required and that requirement enforced.

To protect the public's precious drinking water resource over the long term, the Grand Junction and Palisade watershed, as well as other at-risk municipal watersheds, should be permanently withdrawn from mineral development. Concerned citizens should write to Senators Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar, Congressman John Salazar, and the governor of Colorado to urge them to protect municipal watersheds from oil and gas development.

Matt Sura, Western Colorado Congress, 970-256-7650
Steve Smith, The Wilderness Society, 303-650-5818 x 106