CHEYENNE (WNE) — Gov. Mark Gordon has issued a statement applauding a ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that dismissed a challenge to more than 4,000 oil and gas wells in Wyoming and New Mexico.

The judge ruled that the plaintiffs in the case had not established any injury traceable to every challenge well. The Wyoming Attorney General’s office intervened in the case.

“It is gratifying to see the Court of Appeals clearly saw through these fabricated arguments,” the governor said in his statement. “Fringe environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity tried a shotgun approach to challenge thousands of legitimate oil and gas leases on federal land. The court saw this veiled attempt to stop oil and gas development through this scattershot approach, one that would have had significant impacts to energy production in Wyoming.”