{"id":1318660,"date":"2020-03-10T17:52:20","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T23:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=994437"},"modified":"2020-03-10T17:52:20","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T23:52:20","slug":"garfield-county-lauds-nepa-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/garfield-county-lauds-nepa-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Garfield County lauds NEPA changes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Winters white accentuates the cliffs below the top of the Roan Plateau. Citing figures in federal documents, environmentalists say energy developers could access at least 90 percent of the natural gas reserves in the Roan Plateau planning area without drilling on public lands on top of the plateau.<\/strong>
Post Independent \/ Kelley Cox<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Garfield County commissioners see substantial proposed changes to the federal environmental review process as a positive development.<\/p>\n

The commissioners signed on to a joint letter<\/a> Monday with three other counties in the western U.S. commending the proposed rules to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).<\/p>\n

The rule changes will \u201cresult in better decisions for the advancement of man as well as prudent stewardship of the environment,\u201d the letter, signed with the counties of Chaves, New Mexico; Custer, Idaho; and Modoc, California.<\/p>\n

Environmental groups have roundly condemned the rule changes from the Council on Environmental Quality, saying it would weaken federal protections of critical landscapes.<\/p>\n

The mayors of Glenwood Springs<\/a> and Carbondale, along with Pitkin County and Aspen, have also expressed concerns about the rule changes.<\/p>\n

Quarry connection<\/strong><\/h4>\n

One section of the proposed changes particularly worries Glenwood Springs.<\/p>\n

The draft rules would allow agencies to ignore a proposed project\u2019s significant impacts if those effects are \u201cremote in time, geographically remote, or the result of a lengthy causal chain.\u201d<\/p>\n

That could remove considerations of human-caused climate change from the NEPA process.<\/p>\n

But the city\u2019s letter also notes that they are worried five test wells Rocky Mountain Industrials wishes to drill to support its proposed limestone quarry expansion could damage the hot springs<\/a>, for which Glenwood Springs is famous and which drive substantial tourism.<\/p>\n

Those effects could easily be considered remote in time, or the product of a lengthy causal change.<\/p>\n

\u2018Not trying to dismantle anything\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Following a White House Executive Order from 2017, the Council of Environmental Quality released the draft rules Jan. 10,<\/a> and opened a 60-day comment period that ended Tuesday.<\/p>\n

NEPA requires various levels of environmental review for numerous projects, including those on federal land, from harvesting lumber to oil extraction. But NEPA also requires review of virtually all government projects, and even those where a federal agency is only a partner, like highways, dams, military bases, and prisons.<\/p>\n

The problem with the current NEPA process, according to Garfield County commissioners, is it has been used as a way to tool to stall projects in the name of environmental protection, without considering a project\u2019s benefit to human welfare.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [Council on Environmental Quality] regulations adopted 1978 unfairly tilt the analysis in favor of the impacts of the natural environment at the expense of the responsible and productive use of resources for the betterment of society,\u201d the county\u2019s letter states.<\/p>\n

Environmental review should balance the impacts to untouched lands as well as promote responsible human uses, the commissioners said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur public lands are there for multiple use, and are not to be used just as wild lands,\u201d Commissioner Tom Jankovsky said Monday.<\/p>\n

The commissioners have at times clashed with NEPA reviews in the past. The letter notes the unnecessary delays and burdens NEPA places on oil and gas extraction, including the BLM\u2019s 2015 BLM decision.<\/p>\n

The county also wants the new rules to give local governments a larger role in planning processes.<\/p>\n

Local elected officials are \u201ccustodians of local information necessary to fully evaluate the effects of the proposed action, including the cultural, social, economic, and historical information needed to perform a robust NEPA review,\u201d the letter states.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, people will see that we\u2019re not trying to totally dismantle anything, what we\u2019re trying to do is make it fair and usable,\u201d board chair John Martin said.<\/p>\n

Original intent<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The stated purpose of NEPA is to \u201cfoster and promote the general welfare, to create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

To the commissioners, the economic and social aspects of the review process were left out of the regulations the Council on Environmental Quality adopted in 1978.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>Hopefully, this gives us a chance to right the ship,\u201d Jankovsky said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd hopefully the administration will take into consideration the fact that we are representing counties in the western United States,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winters white accentuates the cliffs below the top of the Roan Plateau. Citing figures in federal documents, environmentalists say energy developers could access at least 90 percent of the natural gas reserves in the Roan Plateau planning area without drilling on public lands on top of the plateau.Post Independent \/ Kelley Cox Garfield County commissioners […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1318660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-23 20:23:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1318660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318660\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}