Judge Won’t Budge in Fracking fight in Wyoming







The Wyoming federal judge who refuses to speed up the legal fight over the federal government’s right to regulate hydraulic fracturing on federal and tribal lands is under fire from the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM recently argued that U.S. District Judge Scott W. Skavdahl’s preliminary injunction ruling made in September 2015 is tied to a resolution of the case. But the judge refuses to split the case or speed up hearings on the matter.

The case involves Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota and Utah and two oil and gas groups that filed suit last year, challenging the BLM’s new hydraulic fracking regulations. The judge in September upheld an injunction against the enforcement of the regulations, stating that the fracking rule exceeded the statutory authority of the BLM.