Colorado Wildlife Federation On June 13, in advance of the Colorado oil and gas lease sale, which was rescheduled for June 30, 2022, CWF, NWF and TRCP sent this letter to the BLM to make several points. The letter is linked below. We expressed general support for BLM’s revised approach to oil and gas leasing in Colorado, as it proposes to exclude parcels located in areas with low or no known oil and gas development potential. Our organizations applauded the agency’s proposal to raise the royalty rate on leases to 18.75 percent, as this increase will make the federal government’s royalty rate for these parcels consistent with those imposed by states and private landowners and provide a fair return to taxpayers. We also support BLM’s effort to avoid priority habitat management areas for greater sage-grouse. Consistent with earlier comments, we remain concerned with BLM’s intent to lease parcels in very important elk, mule deer and pronghorn habitats…before embarking on its process to develop a Colorado amendment to its resource management plans. Leasing these parcels should be deferred pending this process. We note that the BLM has just posted its deferral of three parcels with which we have been very concerned and two of those we highlighted in the letter. Excellent!
CWF, NWF, TRCP letter to BLM re CO June oil and gas lease sale