The Bureau of Land Management opened a 30-day public comment period on 113 oil and gas parcels covering 126,445 acres in Colorado, the step that precedes a December 2026 lease sale. Comments are due by September 11, 2026.
This window does not decide whether drilling happens on these tracts. It decides which of the 113 parcels are ready to move to auction in December, since the BLM says it will use the comments to finish its review of each parcel and the environmental analysis tied to it.
By the numbers:
- 113 parcels proposed for the December 2026 sale
- 126,445 acres covered
- Scoping on the parcels completed in July 2026
- Comment period closes September 11, 2026
What a lease actually buys
A lease is not a permit to drill. Before development operations can begin, the operator must file an application for permit to drill that details its plans. The BLM then reviews that application, posts it for public review, conducts an environmental analysis, and coordinates with state partners and stakeholders. Every parcel in a lease sale also carries stipulations, the conditions attached to a lease that limit how or where a company can operate, meant to protect natural resources on that tract.
How to weigh in
The BLM has posted the parcel list, maps, and comment instructions on its ePlanning website. Sale records, once scheduled, run through the National Fluid Lease Sale System, and the agency conducts its lease sales online through Efficient Markets.
The BLM oversees about 245 million acres of public land across 12 western states, including Alaska, plus 700 million acres of federal subsurface mineral estate nationwide.
