DENVER—A federal appeals court has upheld a plan to drill natural gas on public land in northeast Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, rejecting claims that it violated environmental laws.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver issued a ruling Friday saying the Bureau of Land Management reasonably refused to consider a proposal backed by environmental groups when it approved a drilling plan in 2003.
Environmental groups argued that the BLM violated federal laws when it didn’t consider their proposal for phased-in development, aimed at lessening the impact of drilling thousands of gas wells.
The appeals court agreed with a lower court’s ruling that the BLM was right in deciding that phased-in drilling, which might take decades, was impractical and wouldn’t meet current demands for energy.
