Moffat County, lawmakers speak out against possible designation of Vermillion Basin as national monument

Local and state officials are speaking out against a possible listing of the Vermillion Basin in Moffat County as a national monument. After President Barack Obama used the Antiquities Act to designate about 500,000 acres in New Mexico as a national monument, Colorado leaders spoke out against the possibility of the administration making another monument designation in Colorado. The Vermillion Basin is a 77,000-acre landscape rich with natural gas, so making the basin a monument immediately would halt energy production prospects. U.S. Reps. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., and Cory Gardner, R-Colo., sent a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on Wednesday asking the administration to use the local process when making a decision. “The designation of Vermillion Basin as a national monument would result in a lasting, if not permanent, adverse economic impact on the communities of Northwestern Colorado, including their ability to sustain and create jobs,” according to the letter. “Local elected officials and stakeholders have recently sent letters asking that any consideration of the Vermillion Basin as a national monument be halted until broad consensus and community support from all sectors are secured.” The Moffat County commissioners sent a letter June 17 asking for support on the issue from Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper; U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Mark Udall, D-Colo.; and Tipton. “Moffat County is particularly sensitive to issues around Vermillion Basin. In 2000, Vermillion Basin was proposed as a national monument by various environmental groups with zero input from the local elected officials,” according to the commissioners’ letter...more

The letter asks "that any consideration of the Vermillion Basin as a national monument be halted until broad consensus and community support from all sectors are secured.”  Our experience in southern NM is that Secretary Jewels' statements about "consensus" don't mean spit.  The recent monument designation in Dona Ana and Luna County was opposed by the Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, the Hispano Chamber of Commerce, the County Sheriff, the Elephant Butte Irrigation District, the Dona Ana Soil &Water Conservation District and many other entities.  All to no avail.

And here again you have two R's, rep's this time, saying to the executive please don't do what Congress has authorized you to do.

Here's hoping that some day they will realize the problem is the authority they have delegated to the executive.  Until then, the rest of this stuff is just political theater.