Oil and gas leases on 38,000 acres in Montana suspended over climate change

Climate change cited as Mont. leases suspended

BILLINGS, Mont. — A federal judge has approved a first-of-its-kind settlement requiring the government to suspend 38,000 acres of oil and gas leases in Montana so it can gauge how drilling contributes to climate change.

At issue are the large amounts of greenhouse gases emitted by drilling machinery and practices such as venting natural gas into the atmosphere.

Industry representatives say those emissions are necessary to develop a valuable domestic resource. But environmentalists — who sued when the Montana leases were sold in 2008 — say the industry allows too much waste and uses inefficient technologies.

Under the deal approved Thursday by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula, the government will suspend 61 leases within 90 days and put them through a new round of environmental studies.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge has approved a settlement requiring the government to suspend oil and gas leases on almost 38,000 acres in Montana because potential climate change impacts were not studied prior to leasing.

Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, an attorney involved in the case, says it marks the first time the Bureau of Land Management has agreed to go back and consider if a lease sale could exacerbate climate change.

Thursday’s order approving the settlement was issued by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula. It ends a 2008 lawsuit brought by several environmental groups who faulted the BLM for not considering the impact of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases emitted during the drilling process.

The 61 Montana leases at issue in the lawsuit were sold in 2008 and involve sites scattered across the state.