In Colorado, Trump administration and fossil fuel industry push to open more public land for energy development

ASPEN — The Trump administration is pushing to open more public land in Colorado for fossil fuel development, preparing to sell off access to minerals under 45,000 acres near a state park and bird habitat along the upper Colorado River.

But the intensifying efforts by the federal Bureau of Land Management face resistance.

Conservation groups are fighting in federal court to block this leasing in already-drilled areas around De Beque, accusing the feds of skipping required environmental reviews.

And in southern Colorado this week, Huerfano County commissioners began drafting a formal request to the BLM to delay the proposed leasing of 18,000 acres for oil and gas drilling, including parcels that touch the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness Area and come as close as a mile to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Those officials previously said they’d stay out of that battle.

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