The Denver federal appeals, the same one that decides Oklahoma cases issued a surprise notice Tuesday night setting a date to hear oral arguments in the fight over the Interior Department’s Obama-era fracking rules covering federal lands.
The arguments will be heard July 27 in Denver in the case whether the Interior Department has the legal authority to regulate fracking on the land. A lower court judge had earlier ruled the rules unconstitutional. Environmental groups intend to fight the ruling while the Trump administration has yet to tip its hand what it might do. The government had earlier attempted to pause the case while the administration reconsidered the regulation.
The notification by the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals came as a standard calendar notice. There was no further explanation.