A Tulsa Federal Judge has dismissed a lawsuit in a battle over hydraulic fracturing leases involving the Bureau of Indian Affairs and a company with oil and gas leases and permits on the Osage Nation’s reservation.
Judge Claire V. Eagan ruled late last week against Lyman Gilbert Lenker, the trustee for the Virginia Lenker Irrevocable Trust. Lenker filed suit last August (No. 16-cv-32.N.D. Okla.) claiming the BIA, its director and Ceja Corporation had violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving a blanket oil mining lease on land owned by Lenker. The blanket oil lease gave the Osage Reservation the exclusive right of producing oil in the region and it merged several pre-existing oil and gas leases.
Lenker maintained the BIA knew when it approved the lease that it was in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. His lawsuit said that when the superintendent of the Osage Agency okayed the lease, the BIA was preparing a court-ordered environmental assessment pertaining to Osage County. But instead of waiting until the assessment was completed, the BIA went ahead and approved the lease.