Two oil and gas companies are challenging a court ruling temporarily blocking the Interior Department from approving new drilling permits for a Trump-era project within Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.
Continental Resources and Devon Energy Production are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reconsider a federal judge’s order barring the Bureau of Land Management from authorizing new applications for permits to drill (APDs) for the Converse County Oil and Gas Project.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in September that BLM’s consideration of groundwater effects of the project in its National Environmental Policy Act review was inadequate. The court asked for further briefing from the parties in the case on whether the analysis should be tossed out.
In the meantime, Judge Tanya Chutkan said new drilling approvals based on the challenged NEPA review would be on hold.
