Two nonprofit citizens' groups have filed a federal lawsuit against the Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management, challenging nearly 400 oil and gas leases on 380,000 acres of public land.
WildEarth Guardians of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Physicians for Social Responsibility of Washington, D.C. filed suit Thursday against leases sold in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming since early 2015. The sites include the HD Mountains east of Durango, the San Rafael Swell and Uinta Mountains in Utah, and the Bighorn Mountains and Wind River Range in Wyoming. In the complaint, the groups say energy development brings "noise, destruction of wildlife habitat, surface disturbance, air pollution, and water contamination" into undeveloped landscapes. They say public-lands drilling also exacerbates greenhouse-gas emissions. They argue there is no need to keep offering new leases, as only 35 percent of currently leased sites are actually producing oil or gas. They seek an analysis of the impacts of the federal oil and gas program, and a moratorium on new leasing until that analysis is done.
