RENO, Nev. (AP) — Lawyers for a rural Nevada group are asking a federal judge to block the issuance of oil and gas leases it says will be used for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, they say will harm the environment.
Reno attorney Glade Hall told U.S. District Judge Miranda Du the Bureau of Land Management's environmental assessment is inadequate.
He says the BLM had no basis to conclude that issuing the leases later this month would have little or no impact across about 270 square miles of central Nevada.
Government lawyers asked the judge to dismiss the suit filed by Reese River Basin Citizens Against Fracking. They say the matter isn't ripe for legal challenge until BLM decides whether to issue an additional permit allowing drilling.
Arguments were continuing and Du didn't indicate when she would rule.