LARAMIE – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced today its decision not to issue oil and gas leases on 83,587 acres of public land in Wyoming in response to formal protests by Biodiversity Conservation Alliance (BCA), Center for Native Ecosystems (CNE), and other conservation groups.

A primary issue in the protests was the enormous amount of oil and gas leasing in Wyoming's most sensitive sage grouse habitats, and in response to the lease protests, the BLM will not issue 51,296 acres of oil and gas leases that fall within Core Areas and do not meet new screening criteria that discourage the leasing of Core Habitats in cases where large tracts of unleased lands remain.

"This is a major expanse of federal land which the oil industry was rushing through the lease pipeline during the Bush administration, and the BLM's decision not to issue these leases is the strongest signal yet that the new administration is serious about protecting sage grouse inside designated Core Areas," said Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist with the BCA. "Protesting these leases gave the new administration a chance to implement new and stronger sage grouse protections, and the result is a major victory for sage grouse."

In addition to BCA and CNE, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Western Resource Advocates also submitted protests on grouse issues, and share in this victory for sage grouse.

In addition to the sage grouse parcels, 32,391 acres protested by BCA and CNE were withdrawn from the sale because active plan revisions were underway in the Lander, Cody, and Worland Field Offices, and the BLM did not want to consign unleased lands to long-term drilling commitments that might limit the BLM's options to prioritize these lands for other multiple uses in the new plans.

"BLM now has a chance to get it right in these places," said Josh Pollock, Conservation Director with the CNE. "With important habitat for sensitive species like greater sage-grouse at stake, it makes sense for the BLM to not commit these places to drilling before they have even finished planning for the long-term management of these and other resources."

BCA and CNE also raised the issue of leasing in lands with wilderness character, and while the BLM allowed a lease to go forward in the Red Desert's Kinney Rim proposed wilderness, three leases totaling 2,113 acres in the Red Butte citizens' proposed wilderness in the Bighorn Basin will not be issued because a new BLM inventory by the Worland Field Office found this area to possess wilderness character.

"While this new decision approves oil and gas leasing across vast tracts of public land, the withdrawal of key sage grouse habitats and wilderness lands signals that a new day is dawning when the oil and gas industry will no longer dictate public land policies," concluded Molvar.