Future oil and gas development has been banned on 221,898 acres of Colorado's Thompson Divide after U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issued a decision removing the land from eligibility.
More than a decade of advocacy by a broad coalition of Colorado conservationists, ranchers, local governments and recreationists paid off Wednesday when federal officials decided to ban new oil and gas development on 347 square miles of public land for the next 20 years.
Future oil and gas development has been banned on 221,898 acres of Colorado's Thompson Divide after U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issued a decision removing the land from eligibility.
Temporary protections against oil and gas development for western Colorado's Thompson Divide are coming soon after lobbying by a coalition of conservationists, ranchers and recreationists.