Why It Matters
The Roan Plateau in western Colorado, a high-elevation mesa prized for its wildlife habitat and water resources, could be opened to oil and gas drilling for the first time in a decade after the Trump administration moved to reverse a 2016 agreement that had shielded it from development.
What Happened
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has proposed 114 parcels totaling 126,744 acres on Colorado’s Western Slope for oil and gas lease sales, with six of those parcels — covering roughly 5,000 acres — situated directly on the Roan Plateau. The proposal would effectively undo the 2016 accord that ended nearly a decade of litigation and public opposition to drilling on the mesa.
A 30-day public comment period is now open, with a lease sale targeted for December. The BLM has not announced a final decision.
By the Numbers
114 total parcels proposed across the Western Slope, covering 126,744 acres in all. Of those, 6 parcels spanning 5,000 acres fall on the Roan Plateau itself. The plateau rises more than 3,000 feet above the Colorado River Valley floor in Garfield County.
The last time the BLM auctioned acreage on and around the plateau — in August 2008 — 55,186 acres sold for $114 million, a sale that triggered years of legal challenges before the 2016 settlement halted further development.
About the Plateau
The Roan Plateau is considered ecologically significant even by western Colorado standards. Its upper elevations support mountain meadows, aspen groves, juniper woodlands, Gambel oak, and Douglas fir. Mule deer, elk, and bear populations depend on the plateau as summer range, migrating up from lower elevations as the seasons change.
The plateau’s streams carry state Outstanding Waters designations, and several support what biologists have identified as a genetically pure population of Colorado River cutthroat trout — a species of conservation concern across much of its historic range.
Zoom Out
The Roan Plateau proposal fits a broader pattern of the Trump administration revisiting federal land protections established during the Obama and Biden years. Across the Mountain West, BLM offices have moved to expand lease inventories on public lands that had been deferred or withdrawn from sale. Colorado has also seen significant growth in renewable energy over the same period, with the state’s clean power share more than doubling since 2016 — a shift that has complicated the political calculus around new fossil fuel development.
When the BLM first proposed Roan Plateau leases back in 2007, the resulting protests and lawsuits stretched nearly nine years before a negotiated resolution was reached. Then-Governor Bill Ritter called the original 2008 auction “a sad day” for Colorado.
What’s Next
The public comment window runs 30 days from the proposal’s publication. If BLM proceeds, a formal lease sale could take place as early as December. Environmental groups and state officials are expected to weigh in during the comment period, and legal challenges similar to those that followed the 2008 auction remain a possibility if the leases move forward.