Can Frackers Be Paid Off? How One Community Is Trying to Buy Out Oil and Gas Leases

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/environment/how-one-community-trying-buy-out-oil-and-gas-leases



Craig Amichaux considers saving the Thompson Divide a last stand. “That’s all we’ve got left,” said Amichaux, an avid skier who runs a family campground in his native Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

The Thompson Divide encompasses 221,500 acres of national forest land in five Colorado counties (Pitkin, Gunnison, Garfield, Mesa and Delta) on the Rockies’ Western Slope. It’s the Colorado of glossy calendars and adventure brochures: Aspen stands, forested peaks, clear mountain streams, boundless wildlife, including big game.

It’s popular with outdoor enthusiasts of all stripes—mountain bikers, skiers, hikers, climbers, snowmobilers, anglers and hunters. It’s also been claimed by oil and gas companies, which won 81 mineral leases a decade ago (half of which are in roadless areas), courtesy of the Bush administration.

But a group called the Thompson Divide Coalition hopes to persuade the leaseholders, mostly three energy companies, to sell their stakes so the land can be protected from development.

[Nihil]

1. That's a dangerous strategy ...

... somewhat akin to not just paying off kidnappers but giving them a cash bonus
as it removes the risk inherent in the initial purchase of the lease ...

I recognise that the community are desperate and are trying every recourse that
they have but fear that it will lead to worse exploitation in the future.