Protect Colorado’s public lands from June oil and gas lease sales
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Protect Colorado’s public lands from June oil and gas lease sales ∎
Help when it’s needed most
Carefully curated actions designed to help Colorado fight back effectively. Some assignments will be serious, some will be silly — all will make a difference.
Current action
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is rushing forward with a massive oil and gas lease sale in June 2026, offering 174 parcels across more than 160,000 acres of our shared public lands in Colorado.
Here’s what’s at risk:
❌ Big game habitat: Leasing would fragment crucial winter range and migration corridors for elk, mule deer and pronghorn
❌ Greater Sage-Grouse habitat: More than 70 parcels overlap with priority habitat for the Greater sage-grouse, whose populations have dropped 80% since 1966
❌ Groundwater pollution: The BLM is failing to protect vital underground water sources from oil and gas drilling, which can pollute groundwater with harmful chemicals and other toxic substances
❌ Climate and public health: The BLM is deliberately ignoring the climate pollution, harmful emissions and health impacts tied to new oil and gas development, which hit rural, Black, brown and Latino communities the hardest
The BLM has the authority and legal obligation to defer high-conflict parcels, but they need to hear from you. At a time when federal leaders are trying to cut the public out of decisions about our shared lands, your voice matters more than ever. Public comments become part of the official record, help hold agencies accountable and often drive media coverage that exposes risky leasing in sensitive areas.
Submit your comment by 4 pm MT on Friday, March 13 to protect Colorado’s wildlife, water and communities!
EXAMPLE COMMENT:
Note: To make sure your comment is counted and considered, you must add your own words to the example comment provided. The BLM has said that identical, copy-and-paste comments will be disregarded. To help personalize your comment, introduce yourself, share your connection to public lands and explain why this matters to you.
I am writing to urge the BLM to defer the high-conflict parcels under consideration for the June 2026 Competitive Oil & Gas Lease Sale in Colorado. The BLM’s reliance on the unsupported national energy emergency and IM 2025-028 to offer all eligible parcels strips the agency of its multiple-use and sustained-yield mandates under FLPMA.
The agency is proposing to lease all 174 parcels, more than 160,000 acres, without fully addressing serious conflicts with wildlife, water and public health. The BLM has both the authority and the responsibility under federal law to defer parcels with significant resource concerns. Moving forward without a thorough environmental review violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Specifically, I urge BLM to:
Defer all parcels in big game habitat: Leasing in crucial winter range and migration corridors for elk, mule deer and pronghorn will fragment habitat and displace wildlife. These impacts must be analyzed before leasing, not delayed until drilling permits are issued.
Defer parcels in Greater Sage-Grouse habitat: Over 70 parcels overlap with Priority and General Habitat Management Areas. The BLM’s own plans require prioritizing new leasing outside of these management areas to prevent further population declines.
Remove parcels in protected and special areas: All parcels overlapping with Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs) and Lands with Wilderness Characteristics (LWCs) should not be leased until management decisions are finalized in resource management plans.
Analyze and protect groundwater: The BLM must evaluate risks to usable groundwater from drilling, hydraulic fracturing and poor well casing before issuing leases.
Incorporate climate and health impacts: The BLM must account for the greenhouse gas emissions caused by oil and gas drilling and fully assess the public health impacts on frontline communities.
Do not sacrifice Colorado’s wildlife, water and communities for short-term corporate profit. I urge you to fulfill your stewardship obligations and defer these high-conflict lands.