Lawsuit could be filed to try to stop sale of leases in national forest

An article in The Daily Home reports:

The Southern Environmental Law Center has announced that it intends to sue the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service for violation of the Endangered Species Act if it goes forward with the sale of leases in the Talladega National Forest to oil and gas drilling interests.

The suit is being brought on behalf of Wildsouth and the National Resource Defense Council, as well as SELC.  The suit was prompted by the announcement that the BLM was planning to sell 36 parcels of national forest land totaling 43,038.3 acres, mostly in the Talladega National Forest. The sale is set for June 14.

The suit claims that the BLM and Forest Service “both failed to complete consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the lease sale in light of information concerning newly listed species, newly designated critical habitat, recently discovered presence of new species and new impacts of drilling on these species and habitats.”

Click here to read Chris Norwood’s entire story.

UPDATE:  It’s being reported this afternoon that “The Bureau of Land Management will not auction leases to explore for gas and oil in 43,000 acres of the national forest land in Alabama. For now.”