Colorado lawmakers fail in bid to phase leasing of Roan
By Dennis Webb, The Daily Sentinel
Published August 1, 2008 at 9:39 p.m.
If the upcoming leasing of the Roan Plateau for oil and gas development is to be stopped, it won't be through the actions of Congress.
The House adjourned for its August recess Friday and the Senate was expected to follow suit, with no action taken on a proposal by three Colorado lawmakers to phase leasing of the Roan. The lawmakers prefer that approach to the Bush administration's plans to leasing it all at once on Aug. 14.
"It's fair to say that we're disappointed, but we also knew that it was going to be an uphill battle," said Eric Wortman, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa.
Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, also had hoped to force phased leasing through legislative action. But Wortman said their efforts to attach an amendment to some other bill failed because the amendment either wasn't germane or raised the risk of the other bill being killed. Their efforts also fell victim to a general difficulty in getting bills moved through Congress this year, Wortman said.
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