Description: Challenge to the environmental impact statement (EIS) for a revision to the Integrated Activity Plan for the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska that would open approximately 6.7 million acres of the Reserve to oil and gas development.
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National Audubon Society v. Bernhardt
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 09/14/2023 Order Download Motions to dismiss denied. Alaska Federal Court Allowed Environmental Groups to Proceed with Challenge to 2020 EIS Regarding Oil and Gas Leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska. The federal district court for the District of Alaska denied federal defendants’ and the State of Alaska’s motions to dismiss environmental groups’ amended complaint challenging a 2020 environmental impact statement (EIS) for revisions to an Integrated Activity Plan (IAP) for the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPR-A). The 2020 EIS purported “to fulfill NEPA requirements for lease sales conducted at least through December 2039.” In 2020, BLM selected the 2020 EIS’s preferred alternative as the revised IAP, which opened approximately 82% of the NPR-A to oil and gas leasing. In 2022, BLM approved a new IAP that adopted the 2020 EIS’s no-action alternative, pursuant to which approximately 52% of the NPR-A would be available for leasing. BLM subsequently published an errata sheet with “minor edits” to the 2020 EIS, including a statement that “[t]his programmatic IAP/EIS is not intended to, by itself and without further NEPA analysis, fulfill NEPA requirements for future lease sales.” In their amended complaint filed after the court lifted a stay, the plaintiffs asserted that the federal defendants failed to consider a reasonable range of leasing alternatives in the 2020 EIS and failed to take a hard look at the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions from lease sales in the NPR-A. The plaintiffs sought to bar reliance on the 2020 EIS to authorize future lease sales without further analysis. The court ruled that the plaintiffs’ claims were not moot, finding that various factors supported “a reasonable expectation that BLM might change its position again” and concluding that the voluntary cessation exception to mootness therefore applied. In addition, the court rejected other challenges by Alaska to the plaintiffs’ standing as well as Alaska’s arguments that the claims in the amended complaint were time-barred and that the plaintiffs could not challenge the 2020 EIS because BLM did not have to prepare an EIS in order to proceed with the no-action alternative. 08/24/2020 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Lawsuits Challenged EIS for Reopening of Millions of Acres in National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska to Oil and Gas Development. Two lawsuits were filed challenging the environmental impact statement (EIS) for a revision to the Integrated Activity Plan for the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska that would open approximately 6.7 million acres of the Reserve to oil and gas development. Both sets of plaintiffs asserted violations of NEPA, and plaintiffs led by Northern Alaska Environmental Center also asserted violations of the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. Both complaints identified climate change as one subject that the EIS failed to address adequately. -
Northern Alaska Environmental Center v. Bernhardt
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 08/24/2020 Complaint Download Complaint filed.