Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance et al. v. David Bernhardt et al.

For at least 20 years, local advocates and tribes in the region around Labyrinth Canyon have sought permanent protection for the 55,000 acres of the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness. The wilderness borders the Green River and includes the iconic Bowknot Bend—a red rock river canyon where the river turns 180 degrees to form a deep, colorful U in the landscape.

In late 2018, Congress got involved in the effort to protect this astonishing river canyon, assembling the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act (the Dingell Act), an enormous package of conservation-focused bills. Despite clear indications that Congress intended to protect Labyrinth Canyon with the Dingell Act, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) went ahead and included a 1,410-acre parcel in its plans for a December 2018 oil and gas lease sale. In short: It set about leasing a parcel located completely within what was soon to become a designated wilderness.

The Dingell Act passed Congress on February 26, 2019. Three days later, BLM issued a lease to Twin Bridges Resources, a company seeking to drill up to seven wells to produce helium gas. On March 12, 2019, then president Trump signed the Dingell Act into law, officially designating the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness. But under the law, the BLM’s move in issuing the Twin Bridges lease before March 12 potentially preserved the company’s right to develop the lease, pending the bureau’s future approval of the project proposal.

In response to indications that the bureau was on the verge of approving Twin Bridges’ project, NRDC and coplaintiffs, led by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, sued the bureau for violating the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). We alleged that the bureau failed to appropriately consider the potential environmental impacts—cumulative water use and cumulative greenhouse gas emissions—caused by the planned development in the area.

On December 22, 2020, a federal court sided with our motion for an emergency injunction on any project approvals until early January. Unfortunately, at the conclusion of the emergency injunction, the court sided with the BLM and project proponents and denied our request for further injunctions. Twin Bridges Resources moved almost immediately to begin road construction following the court’s ruling.

Our fight to protect this iconic landscape and its delicate ecosystems from development continues. Following our loss in court, the company’s first test well looking for helium came up dry, suggesting that its presence within the Labyrinth Canyon wilderness may be short-lived.