Oklahoma’s two largest oil and gas companies, Continental Resources and Devon Energy Production aren’t giving up without a fight to continue their 1.5 million acre drilling project in Wyoming after a federal judge ordered it to stop.
The two energy companies have filed notice of their appeal in federal Court in Washington after a judge in February ordered a halt to their large drilling project in Converse County. Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management violated the National Environmental Policy Act and other federal laws when it approved applications for permits to drill within the 1.5-million-acre project that included 5,000 new oil and gas wells.
Challenge originally came from environmental groups
Her ruling came because of the challenge filed by two environmental organizations, the Powder River Basin Resource Council and Western Watersheds Project. They contended the Converse County Oil and Gas Project approved by the first Trump administration was not properly authorized.
Judge Chutkan ruled in late February that the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management violated the National Environmental Policy Act and other federal laws when it approved applications for permits to drill within the 1.5-million-acre project that included 5,000 new oil and gas wells.
She determined at the time that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management fell short in its 2020 review of the drilling project when it dismissed alternatives to the development which covered an area approximately the size of Delaware. Continental Resources and Devon Energy Production contend the environmental laws were irrelevant in the approval process, claiming the “political process” governs the development.
Two other defendants are in the case
The court order not only affected the two Oklahoma energy firms but Anschutz Exploration based in Denver, Colorado and the Petroleum Association of Wyoming which joined in the fight in the 3-year old lawsuit. The state of Wyoming also opposes the claims that they are skirting a court’s 2024 temporary injunction.
Details of the drilling project
The project in Converse County is considered a major energy development for the state in which up to 5,000 new oil and gas wells were to be drilled across the 1.5 million acres over 10 years. The drilling effort has been underway between Douglas and Glenrock, cities located in southeast Wyoming and an area known as the Powder River Basin. An estimated 8,000 jobs were to be created when the project was initiated around 2014.
Approval from the Bureau of Land Management was made in December 2020 and authorized up to the 5,000 wells. The drilling was approved to be carried out on mostly private land and federal subsurface split estate lands. Federal revenues were estimated to be approximately $18 to $28 billion.
In June of last year, the BLM announced it found no new significant impacts to groundwater resources following preparation of additional, court-ordered groundwater drawdown modeling for the Converse County Oil and Gas Project. The additional environmental analysis addressed concerns raised by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on this project that could generate billions of dollars for the American public and will strengthen domestic energy production and independence.
The follow-up study was made after a District Court had issued an order and opinion in Powder River Basin Resource Council v. Department of the Interior, 1:22-cv-02696-TSC (D.D.C.), stating that the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act by using an unsupported specific storage value in its groundwater drawdown modeling. The court also prevented further approvals of applications for permit to drill based on the environmental impact statement for the project.
It’s not the first time Judge Chutkan has faced off against the Trump administration. She was described as one of the toughest judges against rioters who took part in the January 6 invasion of the US Capitol.
The Guardian reported Chutkan is also the only judge who has delivered stricter sentences against January 6 defendants than requested by federal prosecutors. In December 2021, she imposed the longest sentence at the time for a January 6 rioter – 63 months in jail for Robert Palmer, a Florida man who sprayed Capitol police with a fire extinguisher.
A 2014 appointee of former president Barack Obama, Chutkan was also assigned to oversee the case when Donald Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of attempting to subvert the 2020 presidential election including conspiracy and obstruction.