The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Did ya-all read the article? No one is saying: let’s not develop oil shale. They are saying: go slow, think about the costs, and together, let’s make a good decision about how to move forward. The costs not only include money to develop oil shale. They include significant costs to our water, air, wildlife and land.

Colorado is seeing major resource development, mostly on the west slope. Almost 5 million acres (and growing) of public and private land have been committed to natural gas development (that doesn’t include land and mineral rights owned by industry). Uranium mining is set to boom which will involve hundred of thousands of acres. Add oil shall on top of that!

I’m not saying we should not develop these resources to help our economies, provide some jobs and make some money. I’m saying lets think about what Colorado will look like if we continue to rush into developing these resources at break-neck pace (which we pretty much are).

Lets keep a little land they way it is, lets maintain some good wildlife habitat, lets keep a few places free of development, lets make sure we have clean water and air. These are all choices we can make, but don’t count on industry and the Feds to make them for us. We have to ask (read make) industry and the Feds act responsibly.