The plans involve the companies SG Interests and Gunnison Energy.
In 2019, a judge ruled that the Trump administration did not adequately examine the indirect environmental impact of burning oil and gas and its effect on the local deer and elk populations.
In a separate case involving drilling in western Colorado, the Bureau of Land Management agreed to do additional environmental analysis of oil and gas leases issued on more than 70 square miles (180 square kilometers) of land before any drilling can proceed.
The agreement, reached while settling a lawsuit from conservation groups, applies to 53 leases in Mesa and Garfield counties that were offered in 2016 and 2017, the Sentinel reported. The lawsuit challenged the land agency’s failure to conduct site-specific environmental reviews in approving the leases.