However, his plan stopped short of calling for a ban on drilling atop the plateau, as environmentalists wanted.

The final decision is up to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, but Ritter said Thursday the BLM is working with his staff and willing to consider changes to the federal plan.

"I'm confident we're making progress on a uniquely Colorado solution," Ritter said.

The Roan is north of Interstate 70 and between Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction. It ranks in the top five areas in Colorado for biodiversity, said Harris Sherman, director of the Department of Natural Resources.

"We believe this is one of the truly special places in Colorado," Sherman said.

Earlier this year, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., delayed the confirmation of the new BLM chief until the agency gave Ritter an extra four months to review the drilling plan. Republicans and gas-industry groups harangued Ritter during the comment period, saying he was risking billions of dollars in royalty payments to the state. But GOP senators agreed with Ritter's plan Thursday.

"When you strip away all the politics and all the partisan grandstanding that's been going on in Washington, the governor finally came around to making the right call on the Roan, and he deserves credit for it," said state Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction.

U.S. Reps. John Salazar and Mark Udall failed to get a ban on drilling written into the energy bill that passed Congress this week.

If the BLM agrees with the state plan, 88 percent of the top of the plateau would be off-limits to drilling. However, drillers would still be able to reach 90 percent of the gas by using directional wells, Sherman said.

The state also asked that leases be auctioned in phases, instead of all at once.

Predictions of a multibillion-dollar windfall from the auction could be tested next year. Ritter said he expects the first lease auction to be in August 2008.

"Drilling itself is a couple years away," he said.

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