Mesa County Federal Mineral Lease District to invest Anvil Points money

The Mesa County Federal Mineral Leasing District is investing the Anvil Points money that was rewarded to them.

The district has decided to invest half of the money into a forever fund, which will create a community endowment to help people in Mesa County. The board said they made the decision after receiving support from public entities. The money will gain interest and then they'll be able to use it for future projects.

“It does bring a lot of the money to the outlying communities and the city of Grand Junction for that matter and it is helpful,” said Mesa County Commissioner John Justman, who is a member of the board.

The other half of the money is going towards funding additional grants when it's needed.

The funding comes from oil and gas lease revenues generated in Garfield, Rio Blanco, Moffat, and Mesa counties, that were collected through 2008.

The funds were collected to clean up the former Anvil Points Federal oil shale research site on the Roan Plateau.