Description: Challenge to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s decisions to issue 59 oil and gas leases covering 61,910.92 acres in northeast Utah.
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Rocky Mountain Wild v. Bernhardt
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 06/11/2021 Order Motion to voluntarily dismiss appeal granted. Federal Defendants Abandoned Appeal of Decision Requiring Additional Alternatives Analysis. On June 11, 2021, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals granted federal defendants-appellants’ motion to voluntarily dismiss their appeal of a December 2020 District of Utah decision remanding a case challenging the issuance of oil and gas leases in the Uinta Basin. The district court found the analysis of greenhouse gas and climate change impacts to be adequate but remanded for consideration of alternatives that did not involve leasing all nominated parcels. 06/10/2021 Motion to Dismiss Download Motion to voluntarily dismiss appeal filed by federal defendants-appellants. -
Rocky Mountain Wild v. Bernhardt
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 11/22/2021 Motion Download Motion for voluntary dismissal filed. Environmental Groups Dropped Appeal of Decision that Rejected Greenhouse Gas/Climate Change Claims Regarding Utah Oil and Gas Leases. Environmental groups voluntarily dismissed their appeal of a December 2020 decision by a federal district court in Utah that rejected, in part, the groups’ challenge to U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) decisions to issue 59 oil and gas leases in northeast Utah. The district court found that BLM adequately considered greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts but remanded for additional analysis of alternatives. The federal defendants previously withdrew their appeal of the district court’s decision. 11/22/2021 Order Motion for voluntary dismissal granted. 06/11/2021 Order Download Order issued setting briefing schedule. After the federal defendants-appellants abandoned their appeal of a December 2020 District of Utah decision remanding a case challenging the issuance of oil and gas leases in the Uinta Basin, the conservation groups’ appeal of the district court decision is still pending, with the opening brief due on July 12, 2021. The Tenth Circuit directed the conservation groups “to address with specificity … whether this court has jurisdiction over their appeal.” -
Rocky Mountain Wild v. Bernhardt
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 12/10/2020 Memorandum Opinion and Order Download Matter remanded to BLM for further administrative consideration. Federal Court Upheld Climate Change Analysis for Utah Oil and Gas Leases, Remanded for Additional Consideration of Alternatives. The federal district court for the District of Utah rejected claims that BLM did not adequately consider greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts, including cumulative impacts, from oil and gas development associated with 59 leases in the Uinta Basin. Noting that “[a]n agency is not required to engage in analyses, including cumulative impact, if they are ‘too speculative or hypothetical to meaningfully contribute to NEPA’s goals of public disclosure and informed decisionmaking,'” the court found that BLM had taken “an appropriately hard look” at cumulative greenhouse gas and climate impacts by identifying impacts of its leasing decision, including a quantitative assessment of greenhouse gases from the decision, and “generally identif[ying] the broad global context within which this decision fits.” The court also found that BLM did not violate NEPA by deferring analysis of site-specific greenhouse gas emissions from well development and operation. The court further concluded, however, that BLM failed to properly document and potentially failed to perform an analysis of reasonable alternatives. The court—which also found that BLM complied with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act—remanded to BLM for further consideration of alternatives but did not vacate the issued leases. -
Rocky Mountain Wild v. Bernhardt
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 11/19/2019 Opinion and Order Download Motions to transfer granted. 06/05/2019 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Environmental Groups Challenged Analysis of Cumulative Climate Change Impacts of Utah Oil and Gas Leases. Four environmental groups filed a lawsuit in federal court in Colorado challenging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) decisions to issue 59 oil and gas leases covering 61,910.92 acres in northeast Utah. The plaintiffs asserted violations of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act, including that BLM failed to consider cumulative climate change impacts.