The Bureau of Land Management has scheduled a lease sale for September 8, 2026, offering 29 oil and gas parcels that cover 14,095 acres in Colorado. The agency opened a 30-day public protest period this week, giving operators and other commenters until August 7, 2026 to challenge the sale before it goes forward.
How the parcels got here
BLM completed scoping on the 29 parcels in April 2026, then ran a public comment period on the parcels and the environmental analysis behind them that closed in June 2026. All parcels in the sale carry stipulations meant to protect natural resources, the agency said, though the announcement does not spell out which protections apply to these specific Colorado tracts.
What a lease actually buys
Winning a lease is the first step toward developing federal oil and gas resources, not the last one. Before any drilling starts, the winning operator has to file an application for permit to drill, a filing that lays out its development plans in detail. BLM then reviews that application, posts it for public review, runs its own environmental analysis, and coordinates with state partners and other stakeholders.
Where to find the parcels and file a protest
BLM posted maps of the 29 parcels and instructions for filing a protest on its ePlanning website. General information on current and upcoming BLM lease sales runs through the National Fluid Lease Sale System, and the September sale itself will be conducted online through the agency's Efficient Markets platform.
The Colorado sale is one slice of a much larger portfolio. BLM manages about 245 million acres of public land, mostly across 12 western states including Alaska, and separately administers 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate nationwide.
