Yesterday the Wyofile, a website dedicated to reporting on Wyoming reported that U.S. Federal Judge Nancy Freudenthal ruled against an Interior Department’s 2010 guidelines on categorical exclusions.  These guildelines were put in place to curtail the use of “categorical exclusions” in permitting oil and gas drilling.

According to the article:

The plaintiff, industry trade group Western Energy Alliance, successfully argued that the guidance was invalid, in part, because it wasn’t created under a formal process that includes public comment. Yet the “categorical exclusion” itself is a procedural tool that allows industry to bypass — at the permitting stage — a formal National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) analysis that includes public comment.

According to an article in yesterday’s New York Times, Judge Freudenthal stated:

“Western Energy has demonstrated through its members recognizable injury,” she said. “Those injuries are supported by the administrative record.”

I gladly admit that I don’t fully understand the legal ins and outs of this argument.  What I do understand is that the courts are beginning to undo some of the power grabs put in place by some of the more radical environmentalists in the Obama Administration.  Because of the environmental agenda, a lot of America’s natural energy resources are being ignored while we continue our dependence on foreign sources with governments that use the money to wage war against us.  That is not a good thing, but I believe it is slowly changing.

I am sure this is one of many battles to come.