Page 10 - NorthAmOil Week 06 2023

NorthAmOil POLICY NorthAmOil

Nearly 200 permits in New Mexico violate

federal law, says appeals court

NEW MEXICO A federal appeals court has said the government the public health of nearby Native communities.
wrongly ignored the dangers of greenhouse gas The US District Court sided with the BLM, say-
(GHG) and other hazardous emissions when it ing the environmental review was adequate, and
issued permits to drill nearly 200 oil and gas wells the plaintiffs appealed against that decision.
in New Mexico. A Western Environmental Law Center law-
The permits covered an area surrounding yer, Kyle Tisdel, said the recent decision repre-
Chaco Culture National Historical Park in the sented the first time that an appeals court had
north-west of the state. Native American people agreed that environmental reviews should con- A federal
view the area as sacred. sider hazardous emissions from wells, such as
Around 23,000 active oil and gas wells have those of formaldehyde and benzene. court will now
already been drilled in the San Juan Basin in “Frontline Diné communities and their
north-western New Mexico. For those on public allies were vindicated today in a step toward determine
land, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), environmental justice. We will continue to
part of the US Department of the Interior (DoI), demand justice, and that their water, health whether the
must approve a drilling application including an and the climate stop being sacrificed to Big Oil drilling permits
environmental assessment. profits,” he said.
A three-judge panel from the 10th US Circuit The BLM had unofficially imposed a 10-mile should be
Court of Appeals found that the BLM broke the (16-km) buffer around the park, and may now
National Environmental Policy Act by conduct- formalise that. That would prevent drilling cancelled or sent
ing inadequate environmental reviews for the across 1,310 square km of public land.
almost 200 wells. US Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, back to the BLM
A federal court will now determine whether the first Native American cabinet secretary, vis- for further review.
the drilling permits should be cancelled or sent ited the area in 2021 and said she would like to
back to the BLM for further review. Additional involve tribes in the decision-making regarding
drilling permits also cannot now be issued until land use.
a lower court has ruled, said the judges. In November 2021, US President Joe Biden
An indigenous group, Diné CARE, as well – speaking at a Native American summit – said
as environmental groups launched a lawsuit his administration would “take action to protect
against the BLM in 2019, saying the drilling the greater Chaco landscape from future oil and
would contribute to GHG emissions and harm gas” development.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 06 09•February•2023