Let's see, if you divide $114 million dollars for natural gas leases on the Roan Plateau by 55,000 acres, it averages out to $2,100 an acre. The life of the wells could last for at least 20 years or more, so that brings the cost down for energy companies to $100 or less a year per acre. If it roughly takes about a year's worth of production to pay for all the costs, taxes, etc. during the lifetime of the well that still leaves another 19+ years of almost pure profit for private enterprises.

So, as with so many gas leases before the Roan, Americans like you and me get shafted by giving away all this precious wildlife habitat, clean water resources, wilderness and such -- in addition to the oil and gas underneath our public lands. Then, we pay out of our back pockets exorbitant prices for the oil and gas to use in our homes, autos and businesses. Now who in the hell ever thought this scenario was fair?

Wouldn't it make sense that instead of letting energy companies get all the cash from our publicly owned resources and paying pennies to gobble up and destroy our precious lands and coastal waters, we should nationalize energy production and put the profit back to the public coffers instead? Heck, we'll just hire the energy companies to drill it for us. Then, fire sales on environmental sensitive and irreplaceable places like the Roan Plateau will at least have some value to the American public, instead of to the profit margins of a select few.