The Bureau of Land Management has agreed to delay oil and gas leasing on the Roan Plateau for at least four months, handing U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar a victory tonight in his face-off with the agency.

Salazar had said he would put a "hold" on the Senate confirmation of James Caswell, the incoming BLM director, unless the agency gave the new administration of Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter more time to review the BLM's plan for drilling on the Roan.

In a letter from the Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne received tonight, he granted Salazar’s request: "Pursuant to your request ... (BLM) will not hold a lease sale for 120 days so the governor and the state have the opportunity to further understand the resource management plan" for the Roan, Kempthorne wrote.

Salazar, in turn, said in a statement that he would lift his hold on Caswell’s nomination.

"This is an important first step in working toward a cooperative relationship between the state of Colorado, the BLM and the Interior Department with respect to how we move forward on the Roan Plateau," Salazar said.

He added that Kempthorne and the BLM were committed to responding "in good faith to the comments and concerns raised during the review period and (addressing) them."

The Roan has been in the center of an increasingly volatile dispute between industry interests that covet its enormous stores of natural gas, and environmentalists and outdoor groups that want to see parts of Colorado — including the top of the Roan — protected from the boom in oil and gas exploration.