Developers wanted "the local municipalities to build the roads, the sewers, the schools, the city halls — and bond for them," Lamm said. One of his proudest accomplishments in his 12 years of governor is that "we did not fall for that siren song. We made them put up the money in advance."

"They told me at one time to get ready for half a million people in northwest Colorado. You can imagine what that does to our county commissioners and our city officials. ... All of this civic time and energy goes into planning, trying to accommodate, offset, mitigate these immense impacts."

Then one Sunday morning, after tremendous work to mitigate the impacts of the development, Lamm said he received a telephone call informing him "that the whole thing was being called off."

Today, new developments, including a couple of oil-shale projects, have changed the face of western Colorado, he added. A person could drive from Redwood Springs to Grand Junction and see developments, strip malls, sprawl, trailer parks. "What was this beautiful ecosystem (is) under just immense environmental strain."

In an era of concern about global warming and greenhouse gases, Lamm said, conservation and better vehicle fuel standards would save more oil than can be produced by "ripping up this state."

"I think that this is a Faustian bargain for Colorado."

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E-MAIL: bau@desnews.com