"Furthermore, this ill-conceived project would have impacted critical headwaters that sustain a significant organic agriculture industry immediately downstream in Delta County, whose farms are an important source of produce for Gunnison County individuals and businesses." "We're thrilled that today's decision protects the spectacular public lands, wildlife and waters of the Upper North Fork," said Matt Reed, public lands director for Gunnison County-based High Country Conservation Advocates. “The government’s concession that its analysis of the project was inadequate would not have occurred without this citizen-led lawsuit.” “Today’s ruling is an important victory for the North Fork Valley community because it ensures government accountability and protects our vital public lands, water resources and climate from misguided oil and gas development plans,” said Natasha Léger, executive director, Citizens for a Healthy Community. The temperature rise is reducing snowpack and drying Colorado River flows that support endangered fish, agriculture and 40 million downstream water users. The Washington Post featured the area as the largest “ climate hot spot” in the lower 48 states, where temperatures have risen more than 2 degrees Celsius. “This will give BLM a chance to reconsider whether this is the right decision in the first place, and to contemplate alternatives that don’t destroy the headwaters of the North Fork, pristine roadless areas and our climate.”Ĭolorado’s Western Slope is already suffering from severe warming. Based on the court’s ruling, the agency must start over if they’re going to approve fossil fuel development in the area,” said Peter Hart, an attorney with Wilderness Workshop. “In this case, BLM acknowledged deficiencies in its analysis. The plan would have caused about 52 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution, equivalent to the annual pollution from a dozen coal-fired power plants. Forest Service for failing to analyze potential water and climate pollution, or plan alternatives that would prevent such harm. Today’s order stems from a 2021 lawsuit by conservation and climate groups challenging the U.S. The Bureau of Land Management has to confront the dissonance between its proposal for fracking in an area already disproportionately affected by climate change and the reality that, to maintain any chance of keeping warming below the critical 1.5 ☌ threshold, the government cannot approve any new fossil fuel projects.” “It reinforces that the federal government can’t skirt disclosing the environmental impacts of its actions. “This is a victory for the integrity of a biologically and economically diverse area,” said Melissa Hornbein, a senior attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center. Krieger’s order prevents new drilling and fracking in the area. The North Fork Mancos Master Development Plan would have allowed 35 new fracking wells in the North Fork Valley and Thompson Divide areas of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests that provide habitat for elk, black bear and the imperiled Canada lynx and drinking water for downstream communities. District Court judge today vacated a federal plan that allowed fracking across 35,000 acres of Colorado’s Western Slope.
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