BLM Considers Drilling Leases Near Rocky Mountain National Park

The Bureau of Land Management is considering leasing nearly 28,000 acres of land for oil and gas drilling in the Granby area near the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.

The Daily Sentinel reports the Grand County land stretches from just west of Granby to beyond Hot Sulphur Springs, primarily to the north of the Colorado River. It's part of a larger proposed lease sale of about 100,000 acres in five northwestern Colorado counties next spring.

Commissioners in Grand County, which doesn't have any producing wells, are scheduled to consider whether to oppose the proposal this week.

Assistant county manager Ed Moyer says it seems similar to a proposal commissioners opposed in 2008.

The BLM plans to issue an environmental assessment in November.