Permitting reform bill puts iconic Colorado landscapes on one-way path to development 

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (S.5653) is slated for a first procedural vote in the Senate as early as Monday next week. The Wilderness Society opposes the bill and warns that it poses irreversible threats to some of the most cherished and visited public lands in the state. 

The bill would:  

• Lock in drilling and mining projects making it virtually impossible for future administrations to correct permits, even if they are unlawful;  
• Weaken public participation in decisions affecting shared lands;  
• Erode Tribal consultation and Tribal sovereignty while threatening sacred sites and cultural resources;  
• Limit judicial review and make unlawful projects harder to correct in court; and  
• Expand industry access to public lands without adequate safeguards.

While the bill is framed as an effort to advance a clean energy future, its provisions could open the door even wider for the administration to sell out public lands to private industry indefinitely — at the expense of clean air and water, wildlife habitat and our freedom to enjoy the vast network of public lands in the nation. 

In Colorado, more than 24 million acres of public lands are at stake. This year alone, BLM has offered more oil and gas acreage than in the last 8 years combined and sold over 190,000 acres. Under this bill, those leases would be permanently locked in, and nearly impossible for a future administration to unwind — even if issued unlawfully. 

The Colorado landscapes that are most threatened by S.5653 include: 

• The BLM’s December oil and gas quarterly lease sale includes 4,645 acres atop the Roan Plateau, a place defined by vast wildlands and iconic wildlife. If leased, the bill would prevent future administration’s from revisiting those decisions. 
• A June oil and gas quarterly lease sale offered more than 100 parcels in elk, pronghorn and mule deer migration corridors in Moffat County. Similarly, nearly 14,000 acres are at risk of leasing in the Routt National Forest. The bill would lock in leasing and development in these important landscapes. 
• Tribes have raised concerns about oil and gas parcels near Chimney Rock National Monument. Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act gives Tribal Nations an critical tool to identify and protect cultural resources. This bill would effectively make consultation optional, putting sacred sites at greater risk.  
• More than 600,000 acres of BLM spacing units on the Western Slope and Eastern Plains, where ranchers and homeowners own the surface over federal minerals, could be drilled without a federal permit — and without the transparency and protections that come with it. 
• Ninety-four percent of Coloradans oppose data centers on public lands, according to a recent poll by Magellan Strategies. The bill would lock in data center development on public lands — with at least 35 data center-related applications covering 24,000 acres of public lands across the West already pending.  

The threats extend beyond Colorado. The bill also puts treasured landscapes like the Arctic, Boundary Waters, Greater Chaco Canyon and Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments at risk.  

We can move toward a clean energy future while ensuring that America’s public lands, waters and wildlife habitat are conserved for future generations. That is the standard elected officials should insist on as well. And that is why The Wilderness Society, in partnership with 28 other groups in Colorado, are now calling on Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, and other members of the Colorado congressional delegation, to oppose this destructive and irreversible legislation.   

The Wilderness Society lists its top concerns on the bill in this blog. For media inquiries, contact Keri Gilliland, The Wilderness Society senior communications manager, 303-386-2243.