Denver Federal Appeals Court Tosses Challenge to Fracking Rules

The Denver federal appeals court has decided it will not rule on a legal challenge by energy groups to tougher fracking regulations on federal and Native American land created in the Obama administration.

The U.S. 10th Circuit decided there won’t be a ruling because President Trump issued an executive order rescinding the rules adopted in 2015 by the Bureau of Land Management.

The lawsuits challenging the Obama-era rules were filed by the states of Wyoming and Colorado and the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the Western Energy Alliance and other groups.  All claimed the BLM had exceeded its authority and called the new regulations “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with law.”

In June 2016, the U.S. District Court for Wyoming set aside the BLM regulations and agreed they had exceeded the BLM’s statutory authority. But it did not rule whether they were in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

However, the ruling was challenged by environmental groups who sought to overturn the ruling.

The BLM spent three years developing the new rules starting in 2012. The 10th Circuit found the new regulations could have affected up to 3,800 fracking operations a year.

It was Jan. 30 when President Trump issued an executive order to have the Interior Department review the regulations. He issued another order to have the Interior Secretary publish a notice to suspend the rules and on March 29 Secretary Ryan Zinke put the order to rescind the rules into effect.

This week’s decision by the Denver federal appeals court came from a three-judge panel.