Bureau of Land Management over the leasing of 179 square miles in Wyoming for oil and gas development. District Court for Colorado, seeking to overturn lease sales executed across Wyoming and Colorado.
Lawsuit Targets Federal Leases Over Big Game Migration Threats
The legal challenge targets the sale of 102 parcels in Wyoming spanning 179 square miles, which generated $34.7 million in revenue split between the federal government and the state, as reported by Oil City News. The conservation groups argue that the federal agencies violated multiple environmental laws and their own internal regulations by prioritizing fossil fuel development over all other public land uses. Julia Stuble, Wyoming state director for The Wilderness Society, stated that the leases directly threaten the Baggs mule deer and Sublette pronghorn migration corridors east of Rawlins.
Dispute Over Environmental Review and Agency Obligations
According to Oil City News, the 52-page lawsuit claims the BLM failed to follow requirements to lease areas outside valuable migration routes and winter ranges first. The complaint notes that pronghorn herds in the affected areas range from 37% to 66% below established management objectives, while mule deer herds range from 25% to 62% below objectives. Citing a 14-year study of Wyoming mule deer, the lawsuit asserts that energy development within migration corridors curtails habitat use by wildlife by approximately 39%.
Mike Freeman, an attorney representing the conservationists, told Oil City News that prioritizing oil and gas over all other uses across an area more than twice the size of the District of Columbia is flatly illegal. The lawsuit asks the court to set aside the lease sales, halt any authorized actions, and return the matter to the BLM for reconsideration.
Industry Response and the Leasing Process
The fossil fuel industry has disputed the central claims of the litigation. Ryan McConnaughey, interim president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, stated to Oil City News that the lawsuit mischaracterizes the federal leasing process, emphasizing that leasing represents only the first step and that actual development requires subsequent review and approval by the BLM. McConnaughey added that the June lease sale included environmental analysis and resource protections.
The lease sales were conducted under last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, utilizing a 12.5% royalty rate discounted from 16.67% to make development more economically attractive to industry, according to agency statements cited by Oil City News. The BLM declined to comment on the active litigation.
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