DENVER (AP) — Environmental groups have asked a federal judge to block oil and gas drilling at 53 sites on public land in western Colorado, saying the U.S. Department of Interior didn't fully analyze the risks to people and the climate.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Denver.

It challenges decisions by the Interior Department in 2016 and 2017 to sell drilling rights on a total of about 70 square miles (185 square kilometers). The sites are about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Grand Junction.

The Interior Department declined to comment.

The suit was filed by the Wilderness Workshop, the Center for Biological Diversity, Living Rivers and the Sierra Club.

They say at least one drilling site is within a half-mile of a school.