President Joe Biden’s government has entered into a legal settlement with pro-environment groups, agreeing to block drilling for oil and gas on more than 58,000 acres of public land.
The lawsuit, filed in 2021, challenged the Trump administration’s decision to award 113 leases for fossil fuel exploration and drilling in 2019 and 2020. The case was filed by a coalition of conservation groups led by the Sierra Club and WildEarth Guardians just a few days before Biden took office.
According to the terms of settlement, the government has decided to halt issuing any drilling permits in the 58,617 hectares of land covered by the 113 leases located in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana….