Judge Blocks Drilling Over Climate Concerns

Judge Blocks Drilling Over Climate Concerns

In a ruling that could reverberate across federally managed lands, a U.S. district court judge on Monday found that the Bureau of Land Management must take climate change into account when deciding whether to approve leases for oil and gas drilling. U.S. District...
BLM Considers Burning Man Expansion

BLM Considers Burning Man Expansion

The Bureau of Land Management is considering a request to allow 20,000 more people to attend the Burning Man celebration in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert each year. Currently, 80,000 people are permitted to attend the event. In a draft environmental impact statement...
West Virginia Hydro Project Rejected

West Virginia Hydro Project Rejected

The Forest Service has rejected a proposal to build a $1.2 billion hydroelectric facility in the mountains of West Virginia, saying the project would harm rare species and degrade federally protected wetlands. FreedomWorks LLC, based in Harpers Ferry, wants to build...
Court Rules Against Atlantic Coast Pipeline Again

Court Rules Against Atlantic Coast Pipeline Again

The bad news keeps coming for backers of a controversial natural gas pipeline that would span the Appalachian Mountains. Yesterday, a federal appellate court declined to reconsider its earlier finding that the Forest Service overstepped its authority when it granted...
Majority Support Keeping Roadless Rule in Place for Tongass

Majority Support Keeping Roadless Rule in Place for Tongass

More than 140,000 people submitted comments or signed petitions on a proposal to revise or rescind a rule that protects wild stretches of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest from road-building and logging, with the majority voicing support for keeping the rule as is....
BLM Withdraws New Mexico Oil and Gas Leases

BLM Withdraws New Mexico Oil and Gas Leases

Facing pressure from conservationists, Native American tribes and members of Congress, Bureau of Land Management officials have decided not to offer oil and natural gas leases near Chaco Culture National Historic Park in New Mexico. In a brief statement released on...
More Problems for Atlantic Coast Pipeline

More Problems for Atlantic Coast Pipeline

Construction has halted on the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline, as the pipeline’s proponents grapple with adverse judicial rulings and growing skepticism that the project will go forward. Dominion Energy, the project’s lead developer, is also facing increasing costs....
Groups Sue Forest Service Over Grazing

Groups Sue Forest Service Over Grazing

A pair of environmental groups is suing the Forest Service for approving livestock grazing in an area of southwest Colorado that is home to bighorn sheep. In establishing a new grazing allotment for domestic sheep in the San Juan Mountains, officials with the Rio...