Permanent protections for the Thompson Divide passed a major milestone Thursday when the U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve the CORE Act.
Local conservationists, outdoor groups, ranchers and communities have advocated for more than a decade to permanently withdraw 200,000 acres of the Thompson Divide from future oil and gas development.
“We have
been working to permanently protect the Thompson Divide for over a decade, and
today’s vote is a significant step toward the finish line,” said Curtis
Kaufman, board president of the Thompson Divide Coalition.
The bill
passed the House 227 – 182, mostly along party lines. Only five Republicans
voted for the CORE Act, and none of them represented Colorado.
Rep. Scott
Tipton, whose district includes the Thompson Divide and much of the areas
affected by the CORE Act, voted nay despite successfully amending the bill
leading up to the final vote.
The final
version of the House bill included two late amendments Wednesday from Rep.
Scott Tipton, one of them to “ensure grazing permitted at the time of enactment
may continue in Thompson Divide.”
Another
Tipton amendment adopted Wednesday stated that nothing in the act would imply
federal water rights in the Curecanti National Recreation Area.
A third Tipton amendment was not accepted. Tipton spent the final moments of the debate Thursday expressing concerns about the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site (HAATS) located in Gypsum.
In a
statement, Tipton said the CORE Act still lacks local support and input from
Western Slope communities.
Tipton acknowledged the years of work that went into crafting the bill, but said “in its current form the bill has not adequately incorporated the necessary feedback from the Western Slope communities which the bill predominately impacts,” Tipton said.
Bill
sponsor Rep. Joe
Neguse, a Democrat from Boulder, and Sen. Michael Bennet, sponsor of the Senate
version, vehemently disagreed with that characterization.
“It’s
important to clarify the facts, which is that ultimately, this bill does in
fact have the support of every single local jurisdiction that is impacted
directly by the bill,” Neguse said.
On the Thompson Divide issue, Garfield County commissioners wavered in their support, but eventually stated in a letter that they have no issue with the Thompson Divide language. They would not, however, endorse the CORE Act as a whole.
Tipton presented a letter from Montrose County commissioners who said they had not been approached to support the bill as a whole, and did not formally support the entire CORE Act. But they also wrote that they had no issue with the Curecanti portion of the bill.
The CORE
Act faces an uncertain path forward through the Senate and the president’s
desk.
The bill would need Republican support to pass the Senate, and Sen. Cory Gardner has not endorsed it.
The White
House has already stated that if the CORE Act were presented to President
Donald Trump in its current form, he would likely veto it, the
Colorado Sun reports.
Bennet said
he has approached the leaders of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee and asked for a hearing.
“I think
there’s no reason why this shouldn’t have a hearing in the Senate committee.
We’ll take it one step at a time,” Bennet said.
