Conservation groups failed to convince a federal appeals court they had grounds to sue the Interior Department over 4,000 oil and gas drilling permits in Wyoming and New Mexico approved under the Biden administration.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found Tuesday that the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups lacked standing to collectively challenge approved applications for permits to drill, or APDs.
The conservation groups challenged every oil and gas drilling permit approved by four Bureau of Land Management field offices in Wyoming and New Mexico between Jan. 21, 2021, and Aug. 31, 2022. They had asked for the approvals to be thrown out and for the court to block any further permitting until the agency complied with federal law.
The groups failed to plausibly show how the permits spanning thousands of square miles would affect the groups’ members who alleged they suffered harm from oil and gas drilling, said Judge Cornelia Pillard, penning the opinion for the court.
