DENVER, CO – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today issued the following statement in response to the Colorado Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announcement to defer 58 parcels from the pending December 2018 oil and gas lease sale. In September, Bennet and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper sent letters to the Colorado BLM expressing concerns with the pending sales and urging the agency to defer the remaining parcels that had been requested for deferral by the State of Colorado, the Town of Paonia, and Gunnison County.

“We appreciate the BLM’s thoughtful decision to listen to the concerns of Coloradans,” Bennet said. “The Governor and I worked in lockstep to ensure the input of communities, sportsmen, and conservationists was at the center of this process. We will continue working with the BLM to balance responsible energy development with other natural resource priorities in Colorado.”