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The project, known as the North Fork Mancos Master Development Plan, would have allowed 35 fracked gas wells to be drilled on a large swath of Forest Service land near the city of Gunnison, about four hours west of Denver. A coalition of environmental groups objected to the plan with a 2021 lawsuit, arguing that new drilling sites would exacerbate climate change by causing some 52 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions — about as much climate pollution as New York City produced in 2016. Already, Colorado’s Western Slope has been identified as a “climate hot spot” where average temperatures have risen more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

The environmental coalition, which includes nonprofits like the Center for Biological Diversity and the Colorado-based Citizens for a Healthy Community, applauded the court’s decision and its significance for communities in the North Fork Valley, where residents have made concerted efforts to supplant fossil fuel extraction with things like agrotourism and outdoor recreation. “It’s a real victory for those communities,” Melissa Hornbein, a senior attorney with the nonprofit Western Environmental Law Center, told me.

Krieger rejected a request from the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to leave their plan intact. To move forward, the agencies will have to start over with a brand new environmental assessment.

Block-by-block data shows pollution’s stark toll on people of color
Darryl Fears, The Washington Post
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