Moffat County Land Use Board
| Minutes of Meeting |
| February 11, 2008 |
| MOFFAT COUNTY LAND USE BOARD MEETING MINUTES February 11, 2008 Attendees: Richard Blakely, LUB Jeff Comstock, Moffat County Tom Gray, Moffat County Commissioner Ed Winters, LUB Doug Wellman, LUB Dave Watson, LUB Jeremy Casterson, LUB Call to Order: Chairman Richard Blakely called the meeting to order at 7:08pm. Roll call was taken. Moment of Silence: Observed Approval of Minutes from January, 2007 Jeremy Casterson motioned acceptance of the January minutes. Ed Winters seconded. Motion was approved unanimously. General Discussion/Committee Reports Wild and Scenic River (WSR) Tom and Jeff summarized the progress of the Wild and Scenic River workgroup meetings occurring at the Carpenter Ranch. The issue of trying to agree on an MOU was discussed. Environmental groups want the opportunity to pursue congressional wild and scenic river designation while Juniper Conservancy District and Moffat County were not willing to enter a pre-planning process unless it was intended to be in lieu of Wild and Scenic River Designation. Jean stated “It doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, collaboration without consequences doesn’t work.” She described the lynx process, NWCOS, Sage Grouse, Wolf Working Group and other processes she had been party too. She stated unless there is a driver that needs to see a collaborative plan completed and good intentions by all involved, then collaboration will break down at the tough issues, in this case congressional WSR designation. Ed challenged the group to not immediately give up, but to exhaust all resources before saying no to a collaborative process. After Tom described the 4 meetings that had taken place and the results of those meetings, Ed stated that he was convinced the County and Juniper Conservancy District had attempted to reach an MOU, but that core philosophical differences prevented agreement at this time. Ed stated that if one side was willing to give in and allow the process to move ahead, that the County should consider participation. Tom described that he felt there were several congressional designations that do not carry the baggage of WSR and that the County had offered to promote those should a plan be developed with all parties. The LUB spent significant time discussing the latest offer on the table from the environmental community, which was “If all participants agree to a river plan, congressional designation would be a possibility” yet concern arose that this did not remove wild and scenic designation specifically. After much discussion with the LUB, the following advice was give to the Board of County Commissioners. Ed motioned: Since several meetings have occurred in attempt to reach agreement on a MOU which guides a Yampa River Management Plan and one entity is unwilling to agree to remove WSR designation, it is not necessary to compromise at this time, and allow WSR designation be left as a possibility, and the commissioners should not participate in the River Management Plan. If at some point in the future interested parties are willing to agree to no WSR designation, the Commissioners should keep the opportunity open for developing a River Management Plan. Dave Seconded. No Discussion Jeremy Abstained from voting, all others voted yes. Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Rulemaking Update: Jeff stated that he had been attending the wildlife workgroup meetings via conference call and that he drove to Denver to attend a subcommittee meeting. He expressed concerns over the Standard Operating Procedures violating the Ferret Plan and the Sage Grouse Conservation Plan. Jean has written a letter to the Statewide workgroup and Tom Remmington to clarify if any alterations were made from the ‘next to final draft’ that her advisory group had last seen. She was concerned that DOW was not portraying their commitments to local sage grouse plans and the statewide plan in the COGCC meetings. The LUB will follow this issue and listen to the response from Jeans letter. White River EIS- Richard and Jeff updated the LUB on the last White River Plan Cooperators Meeting. Richard is now an official member of the RAC subgroup which will advise the RAC of the process. Jeff reported the proposed draft has removed leasing south of Dinosaur Nat. Monument and avoidance areas in Utah Black Footed Ferret areas stretching into Colorado. Richard stated he has spoken with numerous people that had drilled north of Dinosaur years ago and that he was confident there was oil and gas that had been capped due to markets, and that the resource did exist. Other Business: Jean asked about the Little Snake RMP. Jeremy stated the air quality analysis will be out by December. ROD will be new year. They hope to reveal early data to the cooperators on the Feb 20th meeting. Election of Officers Jeremy nominated Ed Winters as Chairman, Richard Blakely as Vice Chairman, and abstained from nominating the secretary position since Steve Hinkemeyer was not present to defend himself. Dave Watson Seconded, Unanimous approval. Closing Update and Comments none Future Agenda Items COGCC REGS Announcements Next LUB March 10, 2008. Adjournment Ed made a motion to adjourn, Jeremy seconded, Unanimous Yes Vote. Meeting was adjourned at 8:50 pm. |
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