Federal land managers seek reversal of their approval of 400 Colo. gas wells

Federal land managers have asked a judge to reverse their own approvals of around 400 gas wells in Garfield County, and to send back the drilling plans for further environmental analysis. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Tuesday filed a motion in U.S. District Court asking Judge John Kane for a "voluntary remand" of three drilling plans.

The move, if granted, would send the drilling plans back to the drawing board, and require additional analysis of the potential air quality impacts of developing the wells, according to BLM's motion.

The motion covers three separate "master drilling plans" submitted to the BLM by Antero Resources Piceance Corp., WPX (formerly Williams Production RMT) and Laramie Energy II.