As Congress debates a bill Friday that would block energy development on Garfield County’s Roan Plateau, the Denver oil and gas lobby is preparing to roll out a counter-blitzkrieg.

Colorado Democratic Reps. John Salazar and Mark Udall say a provision in the Energy Independence Act would bar the federal Bureau of Land Management from allowing companies to drill in public lands on top of the Roan Plateau. Congress is expected to vote on the bill Friday.

The scenic Roan, beloved by hunters and anglers for its wilderness backcountry and diverse wildlife, is estimated to contain enough natural gas to heat 9 million homes for nine years.

America’s push for energy independence and the rising price of oil and gas underscore the need for drilling atop the Roan in a responsible manner, Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman said today.

A newly formed nonprofit in Denver, Americans for American Energy, has raised tens of thousands of dollars to launch a campaign in the coming weeks to push for drilling on the Roan, also known as U.S. Naval Oil Shale Reserves. But the group is experiencing teething pains.

Coffman had accepted an offer to chair the AAE board about two months ago but backed out this afternoon — less than an hour after inquiries from the Rocky Mountain News.



He has been replaced by Bill Vasey, a Democratic state senator from Wyoming, said Jim Sims of Policy Communications, a Golden-based lobbying firm that will provide AAE with staffing.

"AAE is going to make the U.S. Naval Oil Shale Reserves a national symbol of American energy independence," Sims said. "If America can’t harvest clean-burning natural gas from the U.S. Naval Oil Shale Reserves, than where the hell can it harvest it?"

Sims said Greg Schnacke, executive director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, will help lead the campaign. Schnacke will join AAE as soon as the association finds a replacement, likely in a month or so.

The campaign will include rallies, television and radio advertisements, and other outreach and education efforts, Sims said.

The Salazar-Udall amendment in the energy bill will "cost the state of Colorado $1 billion in lost revenues and circumvents a nearly decadelong public-planning process which allows extremely limited drilling" in the area, said Marc Smith, executive director of the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., is blocking the confirmation of President Bush’s nominee to head the BLM, James Caswell, until the agency heeds his requests.

Salazar and several other Colorado Democrats are trying to stop a BLM plan finalized this summer that authorized up to 1,570 new natural gas wells on the Roan Plateau. Salazar wants federal land managers to delay the leasing of public land on the Roan to allow Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter time to review plans for drilling on the plateau.

The Interior Department this week rejected a request Salazar made last month to give Colorado more time to review the BLM’s Roan plan.

Ritter also has asked the BLM not to lease the scenic Vermillion Basin in northwest Colorado for oil and gas drilling.