Field Notes: The Local Input Act puts local voices back into oil and gas leasing decisions

Representative Neguse’s Local Input Act would restore Western Slope communities’ ability to protect the healthy rivers, wildlife habitat, and wild landscapes we know and love from harmful oil and gas leasing 

Western Colorado’s public lands are more than places on a map. They sustain clean water and healthy rivers, provide critical habitat and migration corridors for wildlife, and encompass wild landscapes that support our communities and way of life. The people who live, work, and recreate in these places understand what is at stake when decisions are made about their future and they deserve a meaningful voice in those decisions.

Unfortunately, recent changes to federal oil and gas leasing requirements have made it much harder for our communities to have that voice.

Changes passed by Congress in 2025 put the oil and gas industry in the driver’s seat on our public lands. This legislation effectively requires the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to offer industry every oil and gas lease parcel it proposes, even when there are legitimate conflicts identified by communities, landowners, local governments, hunters, anglers, ranchers, and other stakeholders. At the same time, the Department of the Interior is proposing additional changes to federal oil and gas leasing rules that would further reduce opportunities for meaningful public participation.

We’re already seeing what this could mean for western Colorado.

Recent oil and gas leasing proposals have targeted public lands despite serious concerns about development and the places and natural resources that communities depend on. On the Roan Plateau, the BLM is once-again considering leasing parcels on top of one of Colorado’s most ecologically diverse landscapes, home to exceptional wildlife habitat, native cutthroat trout streams, and some of the wildest remaining country in the region. These leases are being offered despite communities, sportsmen, conservationists, local leaders, and others working for decades to protect this special place.

In northwest Colorado, proposed leasing in state-managed wildlife conservation easements has raised similar concerns on lands that sustain important wildlife habitat and Colorado’s outdoor economy. Colorado Parks and Wildlife has repeatedly asked the BLM to protect these lands from oil and gas drilling in recent lease sales, but the BLM has been unwilling to work with the state on these issues under the Trump administration. 

More examples abound, from leasing in mule deer migration corridors spanning the Colorado-Wyoming border to proposed leases in roadless forests in the San Juan Mountains. Together, these proposals illustrate what is at stake when federal land managers lose the ability to respond to local concerns about where oil and gas leasing occurs.

The Local Input Act offers a commonsense solution

In July 2026, Congressman Joe Neguse of Colorado and Senator Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico introduced the Local Input Act, legislation that would restore the BLM’s authority to meaningfully consider public feedback and not offer proposed oil and gas lease parcels when important conflicts are identified.

The legislation would help reclaim a basic principle of public lands management: when a proposed oil and gas lease threatens the places and resources a community depends on, federal land managers should be able to listen to the people affected and respond accordingly.

For decades, Western Slope communities have shown that local knowledge and public participation lead to better decisions about our public lands. The people who live closest to these places understand what makes them special, what their communities depend on, and what could be lost when development occurs in the wrong places.

The Local Input Act would ensure those voices can once again meaningfully shape federal oil and gas leasing decisions.

At a moment when places like the Roan Plateau are once again facing the threat of oil and gas leasing, restoring that balance is more important than ever. Wilderness Workshop is proud to support the Local Input Act and grateful to Colorado’s Representative Neguse for championing legislation that puts Western Slope communities back at the table.

For more information 

Read more about the Local Input Act and restoring meaningful public input in oil and gas leasing decisions. 

Statement from Wilderness Workshop Advocacy Director Erin Riccio:

“Thriving rivers, landscapes, and wildlife are the lifeblood of West Slope communities and economies, yet they remain vulnerable to destructive oil and gas drilling. Now more than ever, rigged leasing rules are favoring out-of-state corporate interests over the people who live, work, and recreate here, prioritizing industry interests over local communities. Representative Neguse’s Local Input Act restores the Bureau of Land Management’s ability to consider community input and reject the most harmful leasing proposals. By ensuring Coloradans have a meaningful say in decisions that affect our waters, farms, businesses, and homes, this legislation will help protect our region’s future.”