The Ute Tribe issued a press release regarding the September 21st Tenth Circuit court decision to dismiss Wyoming v. United States. Because the United States already published its intent to repeal costly fracking rules published in 2015, the Tenth Circuit court followed by dismissing the appeals and suit related to those rules. The September 21st decision, however, creates an unusual situation by which “the federal regulations that existed before March 2015 will remain in effect while the United States completes the procedural steps to formally repeal those same rules.” While the current BLM Administration will not implement the 2015 fracking rules on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, the Ute Indian Tribe says they intend to request that the court decide that the BLM does not have rulemaking authority regarding fracking on tribal lands. “The Tribe is tired of these ongoing practices to treat and regulate Tribal lands as public lands,” shared the Tribal Business Committee, whose position is that any regulations from the BLM is a violation of tribal sovereignty.
