The environmental law group Earthjustice filed the complaint on behalf of the Wilderness Society and Friends of the Earth in the DC District Court on Wednesday against Home Secretary Deb Haaland and the Office of Land Management. The complaint was first reported to CNN.
The groups say the federal government, in its decision to bid for Wyoming, has failed to address the environmental impact of groundwater and wildlife – including endangered sage, deer and deer – Climatic effects of pumping more gases to warm the planet in the air.
Teams are targeting the sale of Wyoming because of its size. Of the 144,000 acres of federal land offered to oil and gas companies, about 120,000 acres are located in Wyoming.
“Wyoming [sale] is by far the largest, “said Mike Freeman, senior attorney at Earthjustice and lead attorney in the case.” What they have done in every state except Wyoming is to keep lease sales very low. ”
Wednesday’s lawsuit is the latest in a series of lawsuits against a group of environmental lawyers who have persuaded a DC District Court to overturn a massive lease in the Gulf of Mexico. This case, which was filed last year and decided last January, virtually stopped offshore leasing during the Biden government’s term so far.
The legal battle has now been moved ashore.
When the Biden government announced that it would resume onshore oil and gas leasing in April, it was deliberate to reduce the size of the area offered. Interior said at the time that it would offer the fossil fuel industry 80% less land than originally considered, following a “strong environmental review” and engagement with indigenous tribes and local communities.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Even with the size reduction, Freeman said Earthjustice was sued because the government failed to adequately address the environmental cost of sales.
“The agency acknowledged that the production and combustion of oil and gas developed through leases could generate huge volumes of greenhouse gases and could lead to billions of dollars in social and environmental costs,” the complaint said, adding that BLM could have offered less land in Wyoming as it did in other states.
“What this sale will do is lock in about 188 square miles of public land for oil and gas in the long run,” Freeman said. “There is a fundamental disconnect between what they do with the lease and what they have committed to the climate.”
Gas pricing policy
The long-term domestic oil and gas leasing program has been a political hotspot for the government since Biden took office and promised to end new drilling leases.
Biden’s temporary suspension of new leases has been challenged by Republicans in court, prompting a massive lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. The sale was subsequently halted and canceled following a lawsuit by Earthjustice and other environmental groups.
But as gas prices soared in late 2021 and after Russia’s war in Ukraine, Biden came under intense political pressure to encourage domestic oil and gas production, despite his promises and climate targets. The pain in the pump is not what the Democrats want for the by-elections, when they are widely expected to lose the US House of Representatives.
And the pressure was intense on the Capitol. Republicans and Manchin have criticized Haland for what they have described as an Interior that actively undermines domestic energy production.
But Freeman noted that these lease sales could take up to a decade to grow before they could start actively pumping fossil fuels or even approaching a gas price hike.
“The key point here is that selling these leases will not help gas prices at all,” Freeman said.
Land lease sales are the only ones the Biden government has made so far. The Home Office is expected to announce its proposed plan for the next five years of offshore oil and gas leasing soon. If the latter lawsuit is any indication, there will be more legal challenges to the federal government’s planned oil and gas development.
