News for Immediate Release
Dec. 4, 2007
Contact: Steve Belinda, 307-537-3135, sbelinda@trcp.org

TRCP Clarifies Atlantic Rim Legal Developments

WASHINGTON – The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership today issued the following clarification in response to the Bureau of Land Management’s announcement that a federal court has dismissed a request for a temporary injunction on public lands energy development in Wyoming’s Atlantic Rim region.

The request for injunction ruled upon Friday by the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. was filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and several other groups. It is not to be confused with an earlier, comprehensive lawsuit the TRCP has filed against the Department of the Interior for its mishandling of an environmental analysis and planning process that led to the agency’s clearing the way for more than 2,000 new oil and gas wells in an area of critical importance to multiple big game species. More detail on the TRCP lawsuit is available here.

The NRDC lawsuit sought the stoppage of certain oil and gas developments being pursued by Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Double Eagle Petroleum in the Atlantic Rim.  The TRCP did not participate in the preliminary injunction proceedings, and our case is not affected by the decision rendered Friday in the NRDC case. 

“Our lawsuit remains as valid as it did on the day it was filed,” said TRCP Energy Initiative Manager Steve Belinda. “We believe it remains clear that the BLM has failed to fulfill its obligation under the National Environmental Policy Act and has committed numerous violations of the law. In addition, our suit contends that BLM violated the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which requires the agency to balance the concerns of the many users of America’s public lands and to assure long-term sustainability of non-mineral resources.”
The TRCP also believes that to better balance the concerns of fish and wildlife in the face of accelerating energy development, federal land management agencies must follow the conservation tenets outlined in the FACTS for Fish and Wildlife.

Inspired by the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, the TRCP is a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners working together to preserve the traditions
of hunting and fishing.