The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a coalition of hunting, fishing, and conservation groups, is suing the U.S. Interior Department over the impacts of gas drilling on wildlife in southwestern Wyoming. Some 1,000 natural-gas wells puncture the landscape of the state’s Pinedale Anticline gas fields, with over 4,000 more wells likely to be drilled in the next 60 years. TRCP’s lawsuit accuses Interior of authorizing drilling in the area despite its own findings that the activity would mess with wildlife. The group is seeking to stop new permits from being issued for the Pinedale field until the agency acts to restore declining populations of mule deer and sage grouse. “The government points to the Pinedale Anticline project as a model of responsible development,” said TRCP’s George Cooper. “But when we actually look at this fractured landscape and the shrinking wildlife populations, we see the effects of a model that is seriously flawed.”
