In June, a Wyoming federal district court temporarily delayed implementation of the Bureau of Land Management’s (“BLM”) new final rule regulating hydraulic fracturing on federal public lands, while it granted the BLM an extension to lodge its administrative record and permitted the parties more time to file citations to that record in support of their positions. (See our prior coverage of the preliminary injunction briefing here.) Last Friday, the following parties submitted their record citations:
- State of Wyoming and State of Colorado
- State of North Dakota
- Independent Petroleum Association of America and Western Energy Alliance
- The Ute Indian Tribe (supplemental opening brief and supplemental reply brief)
- BLM’s citations in separate responses to Wyoming and Colorado; North Dakota; industry groups; and the Ute Indian Tribe
- Sierra Club and other environmental groups
The court will now review these record citations and the various preliminary injunction motions. A ruling is expected sometime within the next two weeks.
Mineral Law Blog will continue to monitor and report on these legal challenges to the BLM’s new public lands hydraulic fracturing rule as they move forward.