Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
Five conservation groups have joined together in a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration’s decision to approve the drilling of 35 gas wells in Colorado, alleging environmental concerns were overlooked.
The Citizens for a Healthy Community, High Country Conservation Advocates, the Wilderness Workshop, the Center for Biological Diversity, and WildEarth Guardians all claim federal agencies failed to take necessary measures before approving drilling on 35,000 acres of land, which includes portions of three national forests.
The groups claim the approval didn’t follow procedures laid out by the National Environmental Policy Act, including a thorough analysis on the effects of potential greenhouse gas emissions, methane and water pollution, and other environmental impacts. They also allege the agencies — which include the U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service — failed to consider alternatives to the drilling that would limit environmental damage.
“Fossil fuel development and sustainable public lands don’t mix, especially in the roadless headwaters of the Upper North Fork Valley,” Brett Henderson, executive director of Gunnison County-based High Country Conservation Advocates, said in a statement. “This project is incompatible with necessary climate change action, healthy wildlife habitat, and watershed health, and is at odds with the future of our communities.”According to the groups who filed the lawsuit, the drilling plan would lead to about 52 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution, “equivalent to the annual pollution from a dozen coal-fired power plants.”
The project’s proposal was first introduced in 2017, seeking to develop gas wells in western Colorado, including land in the areas of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests. In January 2020, the plan was approved.
The life of the project is estimated to take about 30 years, producing up to 700 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
Environmental groups say the area where the project is taking place is already suffering from the effects of climate change.
“This dangerous plan promises more runaway climate pollution in one of the fastest-warming regions in the United States,” Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement. “We’re suing to force federal agencies to stop ignoring the climate emergency. Like the planet, the Colorado River Basin can’t survive a future of ever-expanding fossil fuel development.”
The area in Colorado’s Western Slope was labeled the largest 2C hot spot in the Lower 48, according to a Washington Post analysis, which found the area has warmed at a rate double the global average.
“We are in a megadrought in the North Fork Valley and the Western Slope. The water used to frack in the watershed risks precious water resources and only exacerbates the climate and the water crisis,” Natasha Léger, executive director of Citizens for a Healthy Community, said in a statement. “This 35-well project is the beginning of much larger plans to extract a resource which should be left in the ground and for which the market is drying up.”
Do you believe national park lands should be protected from drilling? Let us know in the comments!
The lead plaintiffs are represented by Melissa Hornbein and Kyle Tisdel of Western Environmental Law Center and Diana Dascalu-Joffe of the Center for Biological Diversity.
The Colorado Gas Drilling Lawsuit is Citizens for a Health Community et al., v. U.S. Department of Interior et al., Case No. 21-cv-01268 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
Don’t Miss Out!
Check out our list of Class Action Lawsuits and Class Action Settlements you may qualify to join!
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
One thought on Conservation Groups Sue to Block Colorado Gas Wells Approved by Trump Administration
National park lands must be protected from drilling. Drilling is an antiquated process and should be abandoned. Renewable, sustainable energy is the future and will protect park land and the environment.