Colo. Judge Allows References to Supplemental Materials in Permitting Challenge

DENVER — A federal judge considering a challenge to environmental approvals for natural gas drilling on public lands said the Bureau of Land Management can utilize a governmental permit database in its defense but only as it pertains to the challenged decision-making and does not introduce new evidence or facts. Wilderness Workshop, et al. v. Crockett, et al., No. 1:11-cv-1534 (D. Colo.).

Senior District Judge John Kane on May 21 denied a motion by the Wilderness Workshop and other plaintiffs to strike a declaration by a representative of the Bureau of Land Management because it relied in part on a …