Oil & Gas Drilling in the Uncompahgre Region
Current Status:
PENDING
Case Title:
Oil & Gas Drilling in the Uncompahgre Region
Staff attorney(s):
Lizzy Potter
Todd Tucci
Client(s):
Western Slope Conservation Center
The Wilderness Society
Wilderness Workshop
To Protect:
Public Lands
Wildlife
States:Colorado
Case Information:
September 15, 2020 – On behalf of public land conservation groups, Advocates for the West filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado challenging the Trump administration’s land use plan for the Uncompahgre region. The plan opens vast areas of western Colorado, including the North Fork Valley, to oil and gas drilling while failing to protect wilderness quality public lands, wildlife habitat and other natural resources.
The lawsuit alleges that the BLM violated environmental laws and agency policies in adopting the plan, which prioritizes extractive industries over all other public lands resources and uses. The plan opens 95 percent of BLM land in the region to energy leasing while completely neglecting wilderness and other conservation values.
