GVCA & WCC sue Garfield County Commissioners over secret oil shale meeting - Western Colorado Alliance for Community Action

Sign our petition to the Garfield County Commissioners!

Garfield County residents from the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance (GVCA) and Western Colorado Congress filed a lawsuit against the Garfield County Commissioners for shutting out the public from a meeting with oil shale lobbyists and executives from Red Leaf Resources and American Shale Oil the commissioners helped organize and attended. The 2012 meeting took place on March 27 in Vernal, Utah.

“The Garfield County Commissioners’ actions were illegal,” said Leslie Robinson, president of GVCA and 30-year Rifle resident. “They blocked public participation in a decision-making meeting which could ‘moonscape’ western Garfield County.”

“Our commissioners put special interests ahead of the public. No doubt most residents and families here wish we had a fraction of the influence on our commissioners that oil shale lobbyists enjoy,” added Robinson.

The lawsuit is the latest response to the closed-door oil shale lobbyist meeting in Vernal. Other attendees included the executive director of the National Oil Shale Association, a member of the administration of Utah Governor Gary Herbert, and commissioners from counties in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
One member of the press was actually denied access to the open portion of the meeting.

Colorado Common Cause originally uncovered the illegal, secret meeting through a Colorado Open Records Act request and plans to file an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs in the coming weeks.

“GVCA should be commended for standing up for local residents and open government,” said Elena Nunez, executive director of Colorado Common Cause. “We believe that the closed-door meeting was a violation of Colorado’s sunshine laws. How can we trust the decisions our elected officials make if they shut the public out of the conversation?”

The lawsuit from GVCA and WCC will assert that the county commissioners violated the Colorado Open Meetings Law when they failed to provide public notice prior to attending and participating in the March meeting.

The Open Meetings Law requires public notice anytime a quorum of county commissioners meets to discuss public business.

The lawsuit will seek a judicial declaration that the commissioners acted illegally by violating the Open Meetings Law and an order voiding Garfield County’s April 9th resolution on oil shale, which was based on discussions at the March meeting and was developed with input from oil shale lobbyists.

Uintah County, which co-hosted the secret meeting, recently admitted to violating Utah’s open meetings laws. Uintah County both vacated the meeting and rescinded its oil shale resolution, although the County subsequently readopted that resolution.

Since news of the illegal, secret meeting broke, the public and the media have condemned it. The Glenwood Springs Post Independent, Standard-Examiner and Salt Lake Tribune all editorialized against the “clandestine” nature of the meeting.

About the author

Brenda Bafus-Williams

After working for our Alliance for 32 years, Brenda retired in 2018 and took a two-year hiatus before rejoining the fold as a board member. She is a treasure trove of little known facts about the organization after managing everything from the membership database to our communications. Her other interests include dabbling in a number of artforms, hiking, botany (her college major), t'ai chi and chi gung, and swing dancing. With roots in western Washington state, she has lived in Montrose with her husband Kevin since 1984.