---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Bruce Hamilton <Bruce.Hamilton@sierraclub.org>
Date: Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 12:53 PM
Subject: Oil leasing suspended to address climate change!
To:
CONS-AWL-RESILIENT-HABITATS@lists.sierraclub.org
WELC
Victory!
BLM Agrees to Suspend Drilling Leases to Address Climate Change
|
Oil well on the Montana plains near Glacier
National Park.
|
|
|
In a groundbreaking federal court settlement
agreement reached today, the Bureau of Land Management is required to evaluate
climate change concerns on oil and natural gas leases covering over 30,000
acres in Montana. Sixty-one oil and natural gas leases will be suspended
pending the completion of that review process.
"With Congress failing to exercise meaningful leadership on climate
policy, it falls to citizens to step into the breach," said Erik Schlenker-Goodrich,
WELC attorney on this case. "That's why we brought this lawsuit, and
that's why we're very pleased that BLM came to the negotiating table and
agreed to suspend these leases to take a hard look at our concerns."
Western Environmental Law Center filed this pioneering climate and energy
lawsuit
in December 2008 working with Montana Environmental Information Center,
Earthworks' Oil and Gas Accountability Project, and WildEarth Guardians.
The timing of this lawsuit was on the heels of the Bush Administration's
final set of oil and natural gas lease sales for Montana.
In May 2009, the lawsuit overcame a key hurdle when the district court
ruled that an order by the Secretary of the Interior requiring Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) to consider climate change could be enforced against
BLM. We proceeded to move to the merits of the case, emphasizing
concerns with methane, a greenhouse gas 72 times as potent as carbon
dioxide over a 20-year time period, which sparked the discussions that
led to the settlement
agreement.
EPA has already identified over 120 proven, cost-effective technologies
and practices to reduce methane waste and make operations more efficient.
Despite these economic and environmental gains, BLM has not considered
these proven technologies and practices in its planning documents and does
not yet require them as a condition of owning a federal oil and natural
gas lease.
We hope that the agreement reached today is the first step of many for
BLM to ensure responsible oil and gas development in the face of climate
change and tap into our country's most important resource: American ingenuity
and can-do know how.
|
|
|
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To unsubscribe from the CONS-AWL-RESILIENT-HABITATS list, send any message to:
CONS-AWL-RESILIENT-HABITATS-signoff-request@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG
Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information:
http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp
To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see:
http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp