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This DOLA plan may prevent some West Slope counties from purchasing DTR subscriber units and doing other upgrades they had planned on after they got their checks in January.
<http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2005/11/23/11_23_Gas_tax_plan_opposed.html>
The Daily Sentinel
RIFLE — A plan to tinker with the way federal mineral leasing money is distributed could cost energy-producing counties in western Colorado almost $71 million, officials said Tuesday.
The more densely populated Front Range would likely get the benefit of the money intended to help energy-rich but sparsely populated counties deal with effects of development, said Jim Evans, executive director of the Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado.
“The redcoats are coming, and they’re coming for mineral leasing,” Evans told the Mesa County commissioners on Tuesday in Grand Junction. He briefed Garfield, Rio Blanco and Moffat county officials the same day.
The Colorado Department of Local Affairs wants to change its January distribution of the state’s share of federal mineral leasing funds, Evans said.
The agency is citing a recent opinion by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, Evans said.
The 1920 Federal Mineral Leasing Act directed the money be distributed to help “counties of origin” deal with energy development, Evans said. More than 95 percent of the state’s federal mined and leased lands are on the Western Slope.
The plan would endanger all future federal leasing distributions and leave only $914,000 for Western Slope counties, he said.
Between 1995 and 2004, $88 million in federal mineral leasing money was distributed to 11 Western Slope counties, Evans said.
Evans said he learned of the Department of Local Affairs’ plan last week, and the distribution checks are to be sent out by Jan. 10. Once the checks are written, there is no protest or remedy process in the statutes, Evans said.
<http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2005/11/23/11_23_Gas_tax_plan_opposed.html>
The Daily Sentinel
RIFLE — A plan to tinker with the way federal mineral leasing money is distributed could cost energy-producing counties in western Colorado almost $71 million, officials said Tuesday.
The more densely populated Front Range would likely get the benefit of the money intended to help energy-rich but sparsely populated counties deal with effects of development, said Jim Evans, executive director of the Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado.
“The redcoats are coming, and they’re coming for mineral leasing,” Evans told the Mesa County commissioners on Tuesday in Grand Junction. He briefed Garfield, Rio Blanco and Moffat county officials the same day.
The Colorado Department of Local Affairs wants to change its January distribution of the state’s share of federal mineral leasing funds, Evans said.
The agency is citing a recent opinion by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, Evans said.
The 1920 Federal Mineral Leasing Act directed the money be distributed to help “counties of origin” deal with energy development, Evans said. More than 95 percent of the state’s federal mined and leased lands are on the Western Slope.
The plan would endanger all future federal leasing distributions and leave only $914,000 for Western Slope counties, he said.
Between 1995 and 2004, $88 million in federal mineral leasing money was distributed to 11 Western Slope counties, Evans said.
Evans said he learned of the Department of Local Affairs’ plan last week, and the distribution checks are to be sent out by Jan. 10. Once the checks are written, there is no protest or remedy process in the statutes, Evans said.
