Gov. seeks less drilling on plateau

Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. said in Denver that he had asked federal land managers to expand areas of the Roan Plateau that would be off-limits to natural-gas drilling, calling the landmark “a very special place.”

The Roan Plateau has become a battleground in the push for more domestic energy production because it’s rich in natural gas -- several trillion cubic feet in deposits -- and rich in wildlife and ecological diversity.

The Bureau of Land Management issued a final management plan in June that covered about 70% of the 73,600 acres of federal land on the plateau.

A final decision is pending on areas deemed environmentally sensitive -- about 30% of the federal land -- because the areas weren’t adequately described in the plan.