The Bureau of Land Management had its largest quarterly sale of oil and gas leases in Colorado since 2020. 

It generated nearly $8.1 million from 68 parcels in its March 2026 sale. In total, the leases cover over 42,500 acres across Weld, Arapahoe, Jackson, Routt, Delta, Gunnison, Mesa, Rio Blanco and Garfield counties. 

The March sale was the third conducted in Colorado under the new presidential administration, which has ushered in a new era under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and President Donald Trump’s day-one executive order to “unleash American energy.” 

The federal tax bill reduced the royalty rate for new federal onshore oil and gas production to a minimum of 12.5%, reversing the 16.67% rate set by the Inflation Reduction Act under former President Joe Biden, to spur additional leasing and drilling activity.  

According to the bureau’s press release, the proceeds from the sale are distributed between the federal and Colorado state governments. 

The 68 parcels were leased by 10 different entities. The final sale included seven parcels in Weld County, one in Arapahoe, 14 in Jackson, one in Routt, 16 in Mesa, eight in Rio Blanco, 19 in Garfield, and two that crossed both Delta and Gunnison counties.

The bureau leases are awarded for a term of 10 years or longer if the wells continue to produce oil and gas. 

It offered 90 parcels in total at the March lease sale — down from 103 parcels proposed in the initial environmental assessment conducted by the federal agency. 

The initial assessment received over 113 public comments from governmental entities, environmental organizations, an industry group and private individuals. According to the bureau’s analysis, these comments raised concerns about air pollution, climate, land eligibility, policy and procedure, recreation, sensitive wildlife, socioeconomics, water resources and wilderness lands. 

The Bureau of Land Management requires quarterly lease sales when eligible lands are available for leasing by the Mineral Leasing Act, enacted in 1920. The sales have been occurring more regularly under the Trump administration, with the next one in Colorado scheduled for June. Public comment for the upcoming sale ended in March and proposes the sale of 174 parcels in Garfield, Mesa, Jackson, Routt, Moffat, Arapahoe, Weld and Rio Blanco counties.  

The federal agency is also seeking input on the sale of 31 Colorado oil and gas parcels in September. The scoping period ends April 13. 

According to the National Fluid Lease Sale database, a September 2025 lease sale — for which the National Environmental Policy Act process started in October 2024 under the Biden administration —  amassed $6.7 million for 14 parcels. A December 2025 sale generated over $4.8 million for 37 oil and gas parcels. An additional sale of 23 parcels totalling over 20,000 acres was offered in January, but no bids were received. 

Before these latest sales, the Colorado Bureau of Land Management office held one oil and gas lease sale in 2024 for a single 120-acre parcel in Weld County. Prior to that, it sold three parcels in 2022 — a sale that was postponed from 2020 — and 32 parcels totalling over 40,000 acres in December 2020.

The Western Energy Alliance applauded the push to grow domestic energy production and the latest bureau lease sales in Colorado and Utah. The alliance is a trade group representing oil and gas companies in 13 states. 

“Federal lands account for roughly 10% of total U.S. oil and natural gas production each year, providing the affordable, dependable energy that keeps our economy and national security strong,” said Melissa Simpson, president of the energy alliance. “These sales reaffirm the value of public land development to America’s energy future at a time when the world is grappling with instability and energy volatility. We have the energy we need to sustain our nation under our feet.”

Other groups, however, have pushed back on the effort to increase oil and gas development on public lands. When the March lease sales were first announced, environmental advocacy nonprofit Conservation Colorado joined Wilderness Workshop, Colorado Wildlands Project and The Wilderness Society in criticizing the proposal. 

On Thursday, Peter Hart, the legal director for Carbondale-based Wilderness Workshop, said the bureau is “systematically sacrificing some of western Colorado’s most cherished landscapes, from wetland habitats, state wildlife areas and outdoor recreation hubs to the last, best wildlife habitat and migration corridors for grouse, elk, antelope and deer.”  

“More than 80% of the acreage BLM offered for leasing in March was sold, demonstrating that the push to give away our public lands to the oil and gas industry is a real threat to Colorado,” he said. “We need BLM to slow down and remove parcels that have higher values from leasing, instead of putting them in harm’s way. Once land is leased, oil and gas becomes the dominant use of that area, and all other values — wilderness or sensitive habitat or high-value recreation — are lost. That will be Trump’s legacy, and we stand to lose a lot of our natural heritage as a result.”