Judge Orders New Climate Study for Oil and Gas Drilling Leases in Colorado, Utah
U.S. officials must consider climate change effects from leasing
about 250 square miles of public lands in Colorado and Utah for oil and
gas drilling, under a federal court ruling issued Wednesday.
The
order from U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington follows a
March decision in the same case that blocked drilling on 500 square
miles of energy leases in Wyoming.
The
earlier ruling required a new environmental review of the impacts from burning
fossil fuels extracted by private companies through the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management's sizeable energy leasing program.
But
unlike earlier, Contreras did not immediately block new drilling in Colorado
and Utah. Environmentalists who brought the case said they were still deciding
whether to request such a move.
Contreras
acted at the invitation of government attorneys representing the Department of
Interior. They conceded, based on the judge's March ruling, that a new review
in Utah and Colorado was "appropriate" because the circumstances were
similar to what happened in Wyoming.
"In
the March 19 ruling, the court found that (Bureau of Land Management) failed to
take a hard look at the climate change impacts of oil and gas leasing,"
the attorneys wrote. "The analyses of climate change impacts in ... the
Colorado and Utah leasing decisions are similar."
Approval
of the Wyoming leases was ultimately renewed this month, after BLM officials
published a hastily assembled document in April that said the Wyoming
leases by themselves had "minor potential" to affect the rate of
climate change.
The
dispute revolves around leases sold to companies in the three states in 2015
and 2016, during President Barack Obama's administration. It comes amid an
aggressive push by President Donald Trump's administration to open more public
lands to energy development.
Environmentalists
had criticized the study of the Wyoming leases as a cursory review that largely
ignored the threat posed by climate change.
"We
feel they are likely to do the same thing here," said Jeremy Nichols with
WildEarth Guardians, one of the plaintiffs in the case. "They need to do
better. We need to see a commitment by the Bureau of Land Management and
Department of Interior to confront the climate crisis."
Extracting
and burning fossil fuels from federal lands generates the equivalent of 1.4
billion tons (1.3 billion metric tons) annually of the greenhouse gas carbon
dioxide, according to a recent report from the U.S. Geological Survey. That's
equivalent to almost one-quarter of total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.
Interior
Department Press Secretary Molly Block said in response to a question about the
April review that the agency "met the legal obligations to analyze
greenhouse gas emissions."
Kathleen
Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, which advocates for the
industry, said the government's decision to complete the greenhouse gas
analysis for Colorado and Utah was logical after the judge's ruling in the
Wyoming case.
Sgamma
said it was not a setback for energy companies.
"It's just a commonsense decision not to move forward with litigation and get the same result two more times, but just do that analysis now and submit it and be done with it," she said.