“The political process,” and not environmental law, governs the development of a Delaware-sized oil and gas field in central Wyoming, drilling companies argue in an ongoing lawsuit that challenges the Converse County Oil and Gas Project.

A drilling magnate whose acolytes now oversee federal agencies in charge of oil and gas permitting made that argument — and others — through his company’s Dec. 8 court filing.

Harold Hamm, founder of Continental Resources, donor to President Donald Trump and friend and associate of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, is watching his company’s prospects flourish as Converse County drilling proceeds despite a temporary injunction imposed by a Washington, D.C. court.

Continental, along with Devon Energy, Anschutz Exploration and the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, is fighting a new claim by the Powder River Basin Resource Council and Western Watersheds Project in the 3-year-old suit. The energy companies are aligned with the state of Wyoming and the federal government — all opposing a new claim that developers are skirting a court’s 2024 temporary injunction.

Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan last year halted drilling across 1.5 million acres until environmental questions raised in the original lawsuit are resolved. The conservation groups want to supplement their 2022 suit after the Bureau of Land Management this summer issued 255 permits to drill in the area and development apparently began, their filings state.

But some environmental laws don’t apply to the development, despite conservationists’ claims, Continental and its allies say. In a court brief, the drilling companies said the Bureau of Land Management has analyzed the environmental damage drilling will cause and greenlighted the project.

“BLM analyzed the relevant impacts and feasible alternatives in its 1,108-page [Final Environmental Impact Statement],” the brief states. The agency in the last year also wrote shorter environmental reviews to authorize the 255 permits.

“Just because [conservationists] wish BLM had decided differently does not mean that they can enlist this Court under the guise of judicial review to delay or block the Project,” Continental and the other drillers wrote. “The political process, and not [the National Environmental Policy Act], provides the appropriate forum in which to air policy disagreements.”

The political process

Hamm’s “political process” includes donating millions of dollars to Trump’s campaigns, causes and aligned political action committees. Critics say the donations, documented by numerous media outlets, gave Hamm influence over energy policy and the political appointees who implement it.

In addition to Burgum atop the Department of the Interior, Trump appointed Hamm’s associate Chris Wright as Secretary of Energy. Last year, the University of Wyoming hosted Hamm at a fireside chat, honoring him as a “titan of industry” for advancements in fracking and horizontal drilling.

Gov. Mark Gordon joined Hamm, the executive chairman of Continental, at a Houston industry conference earlier this year and hailed both the Oklahoma oilman and Trump. “The new administration — with energy friends Doug Burgum and Chris Wright — understands states know how to manage their resources best,” Gordon said, according to one report.

The BLM issued the permits under agency “resource management plans” instead of relying on the overarching Environmental Impact Statement for the entire 5,000-well drilling proposal. That impact statement prompted the conservation lawsuit in 2022 and the temporary injunction. Judge Chutkan based her stop-work finding on a federal misrepresentation of groundwater impacts.

The BLM re-wrote that section of the statement and this summer began issuing drilling permits. Those permits, however, cited the resource plans, not the Environmental Impact Statement, as the authority under which drilling could begin.

Conservationists called foul and are asking to update their suit with new claims. That’s where the issue sits today, with conservationists and industry advocates at loggerheads over whether the suit can be updated and supplemented.

Pollution, odors, hazards

The latest round of court filings is long on legal arguments rather than the effects of drilling itself. The conservation groups don’t have a stake in the development — they lack “standing” — drilling advocates say. Powder River and Western Watersheds shouldn’t be allowed to bring new claims in a case that is close to resolution, drillers contend.

Developers also question the chance of conservationists’ success and whether claims of potential environmental destruction have already been legally resolved. Drillers said allowing the new claims would “scuttle any hope of timely final resolution” of the suit.

The new conservation claim “seeks to unnecessarily complicate this simple process, delay resolution of pending matters, and yoke separate and distinct agency decisions to unrelated matters before the Court,” the Department of Justice stated. “[T]his Court should deny the Groups’ motion to file a supplemental complaint,” Wyoming said.

The BLM’s permits were issued “in circumvention of the interim injunction,” the conservationists claim. The new claims are closely related to the original suit, and rules require judges to freely grant new pleadings, the conservation groups say.

To establish standing, the supplemental requests say that Maria Katherman and others areaffected by the industrialization of the area. Members of the group who visit the wide-open landscape will suffer “exposure to air pollution, industrial noise, noxious odors, and traffic hazards; reduced wildlife viewing opportunities; deteriorated viewsheds and scenic enjoyment, including stargazing; and other harms.”

During one visit, “Katherman counted 42 semi trucks in just a 5-mile stretch, all hauling gravel or fracking sand,” conservationists state. The conservation groups say development could extirpate 54 sage grouse breeding ground leks and threaten more than 1,000 raptor nests.

Conservationists fought the firing of a BLM employee who they say was unjustly terminated by Trump’s first administration after standing up for wildlife protections.

Chutkan had not scheduled further action after Powder River and Western Watersheds filed their last brief Friday.

Continental claims an environmental ethos. Wildlife preservation is “a fundamental aspect of our operations,” the company states. Hamm is a philanthropist, donating millions to diabetes research and education, the University of Wyoming said.