On November 13, 2020, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked drilling on more than 300,000 acres in Wyoming for the second time in two years. In his decision, the judge took the Trump administration to task for failing to properly and adequately assess the impact of the drilling and oil leases on the environment in accordance with the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA). The opinion said, in part, “The number of errors suggests a sloppy and rushed process, not the accurate scientific analysis that is essential to implementing NEPA.”

The matter before the court was the result of a pleading filed in 2016 by Wild Earth Guardians and Physicians for Social Responsibility against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The lawsuit alleged that the government, under President Obama at that time, had leased parcels in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado without appropriately accounting for oil and gas emissions that are a byproduct of the development process.

This lawsuit was originally heard in 2019, at which time Judge Contreras, who presided in that setting, as well, ordered BLM to comply with NEPA. In the first hearing, the judge opined that BLM’s assessment failed in three respects: it did not quantify and forecast greenhouse gas emissions (GHG); it did not consider the effects of those emissions on the local land and in nearby states; and it failed to compare the GHG with state, regional and national GHG forecasts. BLM was required to conduct further environmental analyses of 282 separate oil and gas leases.

In the November 2020 decision, the judge noted that BLM failed to comply with the directives from the prior hearing to “consider the cumulative impact of GHG emissions generated by past, present, or reasonably foreseeable BLM lease sales in the region and nation.”

BLM spokesman Richard Packer said that the agency would continue to “implement President Trump’s agenda to create more American jobs, protect the safety of American workers, support domestic energy production and conserve our environment,” noting that their “commonsense decisions were based on the best available science.”

Barbara Gottlieb, director of environment and health for Physicians for Social Responsibility, said this on behalf of her agency: “Fracking and oil and gas extraction on public lands is a major health, climate, and environmental crisis. This latest reproach of the Trump administration is an opportunity for President-elect Biden to put U.S. public lands to work for people and the planet."

The decision stalls the oil and gas companies who placed successful bids on the leases in question. The leaseholders cannot move ahead with drilling permits until the case is resolved. Western Energy Alliance, a group that represents oil and gas companies, intervened in the case. Their president, Kathleen Sgamma, said they were not surprised about the latest ruling but were disappointed. She commented, “ . . .the further delay of development on the leases at issue sows more uncertainty in Wyoming and across the West. At a time when Wyoming’s economy is already struggling, delaying development for endless analysis further erodes tax revenue to fund vital services across the state as well as job recovery.”

President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to end new oil and gas leasing on federal lands when he takes office, despite the fact that he was Vice President when the leases in question originated.

This decision is the latest in a series of court actions over the past decade that have claimed government bodies have given insufficient consideration of GHG emissions when approving oil, gas and coal projects on federal land. In October 2020, the same judge rendered a similar decision regarding lease sales that took place in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Montana between 2016 and 2019. Though the leases were sent back for further review, they were not invalidated.

BLM will appeal Judge Contreras’ decision. Although the judge granted BLM a third attempt to address the highlighted issues, he has prevented them from issuing new oil and gas drilling permits on the Wyoming leases. The ruling pertains only to leases issued in Wyoming after five sales held in 2015 and 2016.

Despite this setback, BLM will continue to hold lease sales. It plans to open 383 parcels, about 484,000 acres, for oil and gas leasing in March of 2021.