West Slope pushing BLM on health study Western Slope communities are pressing the federal Bureau of Land Management to add a comprehensive health study of oil and gas drilling to its environmental assessment for managing public lands. The request is in response to worries voiced repeatedly by residents as oil and gas development grows in the region. "What we need is adequate data to know how things are changing and where change is coming from," said Keith Lambert, the mayor of Rifle and one of those asking for the assessment. The request comes after a string of health studies released this year found no immediate health risk — but raised questions. Outside the Front Range, volatile organic pollution from oil and gas operations is projected to rise to 69 percent of all sources in 2010, up from 35 percent in 2005, according to a state Air Pollution Control Division analysis. The question is whether those emissions will have, either locally or regionally, health effects....