Billings, Mont. • A conservation group can seek details from the Trump administration on whether it used the recommendations of a disbanded committee to craft policies on oil, gas and coal extraction, according to a federal court ruling.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy said in a late Thursday ruling that there was "a significant question" on whether the administration followed the advice of the Royalty Policy Committee created under former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

The ruling allows the Western Organization of Resource Councils and its attorneys from Democracy Forward to request documents, depositions of administration officials and other material that could reveal what happened with the panel's recommendations, said Travis Annatoyn with Democracy Forward.

The policy committee was formed in 2017 and called for actions to hasten approval of oil and gas lease sales and to remove obstacles to drilling. It was disbanded in April 2019 without explanation.

Molloy ruled last August that the committee had been established in violation of public transparency laws. Critics had contended it was stacked in favor of the energy industry.