Thompson Divide mineral withdrawal approved by Dept. of the Interior

A massive swath of land in western Colorado will be closed to new oil and gas leasing and new mining for 20 years after the U.S. Department of the Interior approved a mineral withdrawal in the Thompson Divide and Mt. Emmons.

About 221,898 acres of land will be protected from new activity, but valid, existing leases will not be affected by the decision. 

The Thompson Divide covers mostly public land across multiple counties and municipalities, including Pitkin, Garfield, and Gunnison counties, though the economic impact of the land also includes Delta County.

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Conservationists lauded the decision, praising the withdrawal’s future impact on local ecology like the watersheds, cutthroat trout, and elk herds. 

“This is a historic moment for our local communities, which have been working so hard for so many years to protect the Thompson Divide,” said Will Roush, executive director of Carbondale-based conservation and advocacy group Wilderness Workshop. “We are incredibly grateful for Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper, President Biden, and the dedicated local BLM and Forest Service staff for listening to the multitude of voices who have consistently called for the protection of this beloved, one-of-a-kind swath of wild lands, an area crucial for wildlife, ranching, recreation, and community in western Colorado.”

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The roots of the movement go back years. Sen. Michael Bennet introduced Thompson Divide protection legislation back in 2013 after years of grassroots advocacy, which eventually got folded into the CORE Act. 

Pitkin County Commissioner Francie Jacober recalled working with Bennet’s office decades ago, advocating for the protection of the Thompson Divide with her family. 

“It isn’t every day that we get 220,000 acres protected,” Francie said.

President of the Thompson Divide Coalition and fifth-generation farmer Jason Sewell looked back on the decades of work it’s taken to get to this moment.

“We have worked for almost two decades to secure meaningful protection for the divide, with ranchers, hunters, anglers, mountain bikers, off road vehicle users, and environmentalists coming together in an unlikely alliance to preserve the current uses of these lands,” he said in a release. “While we will continue to advocate for permanent protections for the Thompson Divide as afforded in the CORE Act, we could not be more thrilled to know that this landscape will continue for the next 20 years to provide the recreational opportunities, jobs, and wildlife habitat that it has for generations.”

Garfield County commissioners did not respond to requests for comment. Oil and gas is a major economic sector in Garfield County.

The commissioners, John Martin, Tom Jankovsky, and Mike Samson, submitted public comment to the U.S. Forest Service on Jan. 2 that took issue with the withdrawal’s removal of allowances for methane capture at coal mine sites. 

Water rights, activities on private lands, or valid existing rights, including the Wolf Creek Gas Storage Area — an underground natural gas storage field critical to providing energy to the Roaring Fork Valley — will not be affected by the withdrawal.

These existing and unaffected leases in the Thompson Divide area constitute less than 1% of the more than 3,000 active federal leases in the state of Colorado.

The administrative withdrawal is a departmental decision made by the Interior, which has jurisdiction over minerals like oil and gas on federal land. 

“The Thompson Divide area is a treasured landscape, valued for its wildlife habitat, clean air and water, and abundant recreation, ecological and scenic values,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in a press release. “Today’s action has been the goal of a decades-long grassroots effort from a diverse stakeholder group — including hunters, anglers, ranchers, conservation groups, and local governments — and reflects (the Biden-Harris Administration’s) ongoing commitment to honoring and lifting up locally-led conservation efforts.”

A permanent withdrawal would have to be passed by Congress. 

Bennet, Sen. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Congressman Joe Neguse authored legislation, the Colorado Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act, which includes the Thompson Divide mineral withdrawal. Support for the bill across the chambers has ebbed and flowed since its unveiling in 2019.

“Coloradans fought for decades to protect the Thompson Divide and Mt. Emmons,” said Bennet in a release. “This announcement is a testament to the persistence of Colorado’s farmers, ranchers, hunters, anglers, recreationists, wildlife enthusiasts, and conservation groups who were unrelenting in their work to protect the landscape we all love. Now, we need to pass the CORE Act to make this withdrawal permanent and protect this land for the next generation and generations to come.”

The decision comes after over a year of public engagement and an environmental study process by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), which holds the majority share of the land in the Thompson Divide through the White River National Forest and the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison national forests. 

USFS published a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) after the draft Environmental Assessment on Dec. 7, 2023. Public comment on that draft garnered several hundred commenters. 

At the end of the 20 years, if the CORE Act or other legislation relating to the Thompson Divide has not passed, the withdrawal could be renewed by the Interior.