The Interior Department may see more lawsuits after announcing it would no longer require the Bureau of Land Management to create an environmental impact statement for more than 3,200 oil and gas leases in seven states.
The Biden administration started work on the review four days before President Trump took office in January. E and E News says the review was the “culmination” of almost a decade’s worth of lawsuits on federal leases that date back to the Obama administration. The leases cover 3.5 million acres across Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
The Center for Biological Diversity says the work done by the Bureau to guard against the environmental effects of oil and gas production on federal lands has been “weak.” Jeremy Nichols, a senior advocate for the Center, says the Interior Department’s decision to walk back the environmental impact statement is likely illegal.
-NAFB