Staff Reports
Despite growing fuel prices and a national energy crisis, environmentalists are suing the Biden administration to revoke 3,500 oil and gas drilling licences in two states.
The Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians, and Western Environmental Law Center filed the case Wednesday.
The groups sued the Interior Department, Deb Haaland, and Tracy Stone-Manning, BLM director. The complaint seeks to prevent the approval of more than 3,500 permits in New Mexico’s Permian Basin and Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.
Most troubling is that the permits in question are almost all approved in those states.
“Climate change is driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation activities,” the groups said in their lawsuit.
The 62-page application contains a 192-page annex listing targeted oil and gas wells.
In the action, the groups argue, “The drilling of these oil and gas wells will likely emit 490-600 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas pollution over the course of their lifespans, equivalent to the annual emissions of between 131-161 coal fired power plants. This is both a nationally and globally significant quantity of emissions.”
The suit says the permits were authorised in violation of NEPA, ESA, and FLPMA, along with federal rules.
The groups believe the BLM violated the ESA by not consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. They say the authorities failed to prevent the needless and unreasonable deterioration of public lands from oil and gas permitting, violating the FLPMA. The action additionally argues the agencies failed to “take a careful look at environmental justice” under NEPA, notably as it relates to the “disproportionate and detrimental effects from climate change” felt by communities in Wyoming and New Mexico.
The parties want to vacate oil and gas leases in both states.
Between January 21, 2021 and May 31, 2022, the BLM approved more than 3,800 permits in Wyoming and New Mexico. These leases constitute most national permits at the time.
The Biden administration continues to oppose oil and gas leasing and drilling.
The anti-American left’s newest vile crime.
DOI released a study in November 2021 suggesting BLM reduce acreage available for new drilling leases and charge oil corporations more. In May, the Department cancelled a million-acre Alaska lease sale and two Gulf of Mexico leases.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on The Gateway Pundit.
