We’ve written before about the absurdity of the efforts primarily by Gov. Ritter, Sen. Ken Salazar, and Cong. Mark Udall to nix the environmentally sensitive plan to harvest the massive natural gas reserves under the Roan Plateau in western Colorado. A newly released study by Americans for American Energy provides additional evidence of the lunacy of the Democrats blatant pandering to a fringe group of environmental extremists that make up their political base.

According to the report, tapping the Roan would generate $6 billion of revenue for Colorado over the next 30 years - $1 billion of that in the very first year alone. If they get their way, Ritter-Salazar-Udall will manage to have killed the goose that laid the golden egg.

To those that would say “But, our environment should not be for sale,” be reminded that the Roan plan was developed over seven years with unprecedented input from environmental groups, land owners, sportsmen, local governments, all interested groups and private citizens. It is the most restrictive plan ever developed in the western United States. Adding to the irony, it was just a few years ago that self professed protectors of the environment led the chorus calling for a transition to clean burning natural gas. Now they don’t want us to go get it where it exists.

The message pretty clearly is that these people are not asking that resource development be done right - they don’t want it done at all.

This is all happening at a time when the Governor and the Democratic legislature are looking under every rock for more revenue and setting the table for a bunch of tax increase proposals (despite the fact that Ref. C is now projected to generate nearly twice the original estimate).