In Precedent, Judge Sets Aside Drilling Leases In Santa Fe Forest

"SANTA FE – Environmentalists have won what they say is a precedent-setting court decision that overturns oil and gas leases on more than 19,000 acres in the Santa Fe National Forest that the Bureau of Land Management approved in 2015.

Senior U.S. District Judge Christina Armijo of Albuquerque Thursday ordered the BLM to conduct further analysis on environmental impact of the potential drilling.

Most significantly, the judge found that federal environmental law requires the BLM to consider the “downstream” and cumulative impacts on climate change of the use of the fuel produced from oil and gas leases on public lands."

Mark Oswald reports for the Albuquerque Journal June 14, 2018.

Source: Albuquerque Journal, 06/18/2018