Source: The Daily Sentinel Editorial Board

When federal budget figures are routinely batted about in the hundreds of billions, or even trillions of dollars, it becomes harder to think of $17 million as big money. But it’s not chump change, either.

And the efforts by Colorado Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet to secure that money on behalf of four counties in western Colorado — including Mesa County — deserve recognition.

This isn’t some pork-barrel funding pulled out of the general federal treasury. This is money that was generated on the Western Slope from activities that have had a direct impact on communities here.

The money comes from oil and gas drilling that occurred on the former Naval Oil Shale Reserve — now generally known as the Roan Plateau — after the area west of Rifle was transferred to the Bureau of Land Management in 1997 and before new leasing for the top of the plateau was approved by the BLM last year. Most of the drilling occurred at the base of the Bookcliffs.

The legislation that authorized the transfer of the Naval Oil Shale Reserve to the BLM also authorized a part of the money the federal government received for drilling in the area to go to communities in this area. But it was held in reserve while the government was paying for clean-up activities at the old Anvil Points oil shale facility on the site. The BLM certified last year that the cleanup had been completed, but federal authorities said they couldn’t release the portion of the money due to Colorado counties — the $17 million — because they had no legislative authority to do so.

It shouldn’t require a second piece of legislation to allow what was authorized in the 1997 bill, but apparently it will. Udall and Bennet last week introduced a bill to accomplish that. We hope it moves speedily through Congress and the money is dispersed quickly to Mesa, Moffat, Garfield and Rio Blanco counties.