WASHINGTON—Supporters of American energy exploration and development are alarmed at an activist judge’s ruling last week that environmentalists claim provides their movement with the “Holy Grail” ruling they need to cripple the nation’s oil and natural gas industries.
Two left-wing nonprofit organizations, Santa Fe, New Mexico-based WildEarth Guardians and Washington-based Physicians for Social Responsibility, brought a lawsuit to halt energy projects in Western states. They succeeded in winning a temporary injunction March 19, blocking drilling projects on more than 300,000 acres of public land in Wyoming.
