Groups request fracking stay

Three environmental groups have filed an appeal and request for a stay with the Interior Department. The groups seek to stop nine oil and gas leases in a 23-square mile patch of sage-grouse habitat on federal land near Nephi, UT. The groups— Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project and American Bird Conservancy—argue that “the BLM has no business leasing these lands to become a future oil and gas field.” They specifically allege the BLM ignored or downplayed potential harm to sage-grouse and other wildlife from fracking and drilling on the territory, and ignored its own sage-grouse plans related to leasing federal lands for energy exploration. “Oil and gas drilling and production are known causes of sage-grouse habitat destruction,” said Erik Molvar of Western Watersheds Project in a joint statement. “Even the most carefully controlled industrial intrusions at the edges of key habitats can cause grouse to abandon undeveloped habitats up to three miles away.”