Our Team

Michael Freeman

Senior Attorney

Rocky Mountain Office

Michael Freeman, senior attorney in Earthjustice's Rocky Mountain Office, is smiling, looking directly at the camera.

Bar Admissions

CO, IL (inactive)

Michael Freeman

Senior Attorney Rocky Mountain Office

Media Inquiries

Perry Wheeler
Public Affairs and Communications Strategist
pwheeler@earthjustice.org

Mike Freeman works in the Rocky Mountain regional office in Denver, Colorado. His practice focuses on protecting public lands and communities in the Rocky Mountain West from the harmful impacts of oil and gas development, and on promoting clean energy alternatives.

Prior to joining Earthjustice in 2008, Mike was a partner with the Denver office of a large Midwestern law firm and also practiced with a large firm in Chicago. Between stints in private practice, Mike also worked as an associate attorney in Earthjustice’s Denver office from 1998–2000.

Mike graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1994 and received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1990.

Expert Posts & Articles

Maroon Lake, White River National Forest
October 5, 2016

BLM’s Plan For 65 Illegal Leases on White River National Forest Woefully Out of Balance

By Michael Freeman

The Bureau of Land Management’s new plan for dealing with 65 illegally issued oil and gas leases in Colorado's White River National Forest includes the validation of 27 of these illegal leases, with no additional protections.
A wind turbine at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) site in Colorado.
July 21, 2015

Court Upholds Colorado’s Clean Energy Future

By Michael Freeman

A federal appeals court affirms Colorado's renewable energy standard, determining that states have the authority to tackle climate change by transitioning away from fossil fuels.
November 6, 2013

Fracking Voted Out in Three Colorado Communities

By Michael Freeman

All Posts

Media Inquiries

Perry Wheeler
Public Affairs and Communications Strategist
pwheeler@earthjustice.org

Bar Admissions

CO, IL (inactive)

Quoted in the News

August 13, 2026

KOSU

Federal judge vacates illegal federal approvals for fracking on Pawnee trust land in Oklahoma

“The federal government made a lot of mistakes in approving these wells. But it's really good to see the court upholding the law and requiring the Interior Department to actually involve the Pawnee Nation and other tribal tribal members when it approves oil and gas development and look out for what the environmental impacts are and the risks of drilling on water quality and public health.”
February 13, 2025

Four Corners Public Radio

Trump picks oil and gas advocate to lead BLM

“They claim that the federal bureau should be required to sell oil and gas leases whenever the industry wants them. If they have their way, then places that get leased to the oil industry under the Trump Administration won't ever be the same after they get drilled.”
February 9, 2025

The Denver Post

What impact will Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” have on Colorado, public lands?

“It’s about padding the profits for Trump’s donors in the oil and gas industry. What they’re going to be doing is stockpiling federal oil and gas leases and getting Trump to do things that are going to increase demand for their product.”
March 6, 2024

The Denver Post

Lawsuit accuses oil, gas companies of fraud after bankruptcy results in 200 “orphan” wells in Colorado

“Those rules are a regulatory Rube Goldberg machine, with numerous loopholes and many different tracks allowing companies to minimize the bonds they have to post.”
March 6, 2024

The Colorado Sun

Suncor gets tougher “forever chemicals” and toxins limits in new Colorado water permit

“This permit gives Suncor an extraordinarily long time to comply with permit limits. The company won’t have to meet its PFAS limits for three years. For several other pollutants, Suncor will get more than six years to comply. That timeline is problematic because this is only a five-year permit. In other words, this permit should expire before Suncor would have to comply with these limits.”
May 24, 2023

E&E News

Interior’s oil plan is coming. Here’s what to watch.

“The federal government itself is this country’s single largest source of fossil fuels. The oil and gas rule is a prime opportunity for BLM to address our climate goals and bring the federal program into alignment with what we’re trying to do as a nation.”

Latest Press Statements

Winter at the Roan Plateau in Colorado.
August 12, 2026

BLM Moves Forward With Proposed Oil and Gas Leasing on the Iconic Roan Plateau in Western Colorado

Release of Environmental Assessment begins 30-day public comment period
The Suncor refinery in North Denver.
September 15, 2025

Colorado Reaches Backroom Deal with Suncor to Avoid Key Water Permit Provisions

Environmental justice and conservation groups cut out of settlement process despite intervention
The Great Seal of the Pawnee Nation.
January 28, 2025

EPA Directs Oklahoma to Coordinate with Tribes on Protecting Air, Water and Public Health

Agency modifies 2020 order allowing state to assume responsibility for federal environmental programs on tribal lands
A large brown bird with a fan of pointy tail feathers and its head burrowed in its fluffy white upper body puffs two smooth tan sacks of air out of its chest in a field of short grass.
January 17, 2025

Ninth Circuit Upholds Decision That Struck Down Trump Administration Sage-Grouse Leasing

Court affirms district court’s invalidation of more than 100 oil and gas leases
October 17, 2024

Polis Administration Gives Oil and Gas Industry Roadmap for Expanding Neighborhood Drilling in Disproportionately Impacted Communities

State oil and gas agency adopts rules that undercut 2024 legislation to better protect disproportionately impacted communities and address cumulative impacts
Pygmy rabbits depend on the sagebrush sea habitat to protect them from predators and for the majority of their diet. (Photo Courtesy of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife)
August 15, 2024

Lawsuit Launched to Protect World’s Smallest Rabbit in Eight Western States

Government has failed to take steps to protect the pygmy rabbit