Treasured by sportsmen, environmentalists and outdoor recreation enthusiasts, the Roan is a scenic plateau in gas-rich Garfield County that for years has been the subject of intense debate and litigation. Now the lawsuit challenging the record $114 million BLM lease sale in 2008 will be decided by a federal judge.

“After multiple rounds of settlement negotiations and diligent efforts by all parties, settlement negotiations are not at an impasse,” U.S. District Court Judge Kristen Mix wrote Wednesday. “Given that the issues in the case are fully briefed and ripe for resolution, the matter will be resolved in due course and in consideration of the District Judge’s overall docket.”

The 10 conservation groups – including the Colorado Environmental Coalition, Colorado Trout Unlimited, National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, Colorado Mountain Club, Rock the Earth, Center for Native Ecosystems, the Wilderness Society, Wilderness Workshop and National Resources Defense Counsel – offered to continue negotiations but also promised to continue litigating to protect the Roan.

The groups, which contend the BLM did not fully analyze the potential impacts of drilling on the Roan, including considering a no-drilling alternative, called on the Obama administration to intervene and come up with a plan for drilling in the area that fully protects wildlife habitat.

“The drilling proposed for the Roan Plateau would devastate the elk, mule deer and native trout living there and deal a real blow to the region’s hunting and fishing economy,” Steve Torbit, Regional Executive Director of the National Wildlife Federation, said in a release. “As long as we protect wildlife habitat, western Colorado’s outdoors economy won’t have to suffer through the boom-and-bust cycles that the energy industry is infamous for.”

Four energy companies – Bill Barrett, Williams, OXY USA and Antero Resources – are named as defendant-intervenors in the case.

“The plaintiffs were holding the position the leases would be canceled,” Bill Barrett Vice President Duane Zavadil told the Denver Post. “We believed it was unlikely they would be canceled. The gap [in negotiations] remained too great.”

Despite some speculation the commissioners might vote Monday on a resolution of support for the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act, a measure introduced by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Denver) and co-sponsored by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Boulder), the commissioners actually decided to take on the state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC).

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette

According to the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the two Republican county commissioners, Mike Samson and John Martin, voted Monday to draft a resolution urging the COGCC to move quickly to clean up toxic chemicals in Prather Springs on private property between DeBeque and Parachute in western Garfield County.

A private consulting firm, according to the paper, narrowed down the source of the contamination to nearby drilling operations being conducted by two companies, Williams and OXY. Both deny being the source of the BTEX that poisoned outfitter Ned Prather and sent him to the hospital in the spring of 2008.

Democratic County Commissioner Trési Houpt reportedly recused herself from deliberations on the Prather Springs resolution because she also serves on the COGCC, but she told the other two commissioners to “do what you need to do” to get some action in the case, saying later that local governments have to stand up for the rights of their constituents.

The COGCC does not support the FRAC Act, which would remove a Safe Drinking Water Act exemption granted the process of hydraulic fracturing during the Bush administration in 2005. Derisively dubbed the “Halliburton loophole” after the company that perfected hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the exemption allows oil and gas companies to keep chemicals used in the process secret for proprietary reasons.

Critics claim fracking has in numerous cases led to contamination of water wells and other groundwater supplies, although industry officials claim it is an entirely benign process. The commissioners last month put off a FRAC Act resolution after viewing the documentary “Split Estate,” saying they needed more time to deliberate. Martin opposes a resolution of support; Houpt favors one; and Samson seems undecided.

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