No fuel for you!

Federal judge blocks plan for 35 gas wells on national forest land in western Colorado 

U.S. District for Colorado Judge Marcia Krieger vacated previous approvals by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management allowing Gunnison Energy LLC to drill and frack wells as part of the North Fork Mancos Master Development Plan. Gunnison Energy has already drilled one well under the plan, Krieger’s opinion said. The plan allowed for 35 wells to be drilled from five pads spread across the area. 

“Based on the court’s ruling, the agency must start over if they’re going to approve fossil fuel development in the area,” said Peter Hart, an attorney with Wilderness Workshop, part of the coalition that had sued to block the drilling plan. 

Biden issued new executive orders upon taking office, and his allies responded immediately (and were almost certainly tipped off in advance, given that their lawsuits were ready to go and filed within just a few days).

The environmental coalition’s 2021 lawsuit against the master plan said the federal agencies’ drilling approvals ignored recent executive orders and other rulings that they must weigh any proposal’s contributions to greenhouse gases and climate change. Previously, required steps under the National Environmental Policy Act had focused more on impacts on wildlife, air pollution and water quality. 

The coalition, which included WildEarth Guardians, the Center for Biological Diversity, High Country Conservation Advocates and others, said releases of methane and other greenhouse gases during fracking would worsen climate change that has already raised Western Slope temperatures faster than other parts of North America.