Two conservation groups are calling on Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter to protest oil and gas leasing of federal lands on the Roan Plateau. A representative for one of them says state protests have proved effective elsewhere.

The National Wildlife Federation and Sierra Sportsmen, which is part of the Sierra Club, have been running newspaper ads urging Ritter to “help protect” the plateau from an oil and gas lease planned by the Bureau of Land Management for Aug. 14. The groups are especially concerned about how oil and gas development could affect wildlife habitat and corridors.

The federal government, and not Ritter, has legal authority over the planned leasing of more than 55,000 acres in the BLM’s plateau planning area, near Rifle. In fact, the Interior Department rejected his call for leasing the Roan in phases, which Ritter had said would better protect the environment and increase government revenues from energy development there.

Steve Torbit, regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation, said the environmental groups are urging Ritter to protest the leases because it’s one of the few options left for stopping them, and it holds promise of having some success.

“It’s a pretty big political statement when a sitting governor does that, takes it that far with the BLM,” Torbit said.

The BLM’s rejection of Ritter’s plan for the plateau doesn’t necessarily indicate how it might react if he protested, Torbit said. He said when other states have protested leases, they’ve been able to convince the BLM to reconsider the design of leases, if not their leasing decision.

The deadline for filing protests is July 30. Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said the governor is considering whether to file a protest.

Dreyer said he didn’t think the ad was unfairly directed at Ritter.

“It’s an ad by very interested parties asking the governor to take what they feel to be important and appropriate actions,” Dreyer said.

Meanwhile, Torbit said his group won’t file its own protest. Instead, it is pinning its hopes on a lawsuit it filed along with numerous other conservation groups to try to stop the leasing of the Roan.

BLM spokesman David Boyd said the agency would consider all protests on their merits. He said the agency already has received a few protests against the Roan lease, but can’t discuss the identities of the protesters until after the filing deadline.

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E-mail Dennis Webb at dennis.webb@gjsentinel.com.