Description: Challenge to the environmental reviews for oil and gas leases in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
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WildEarth Guardians v. Haaland
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 06/01/2022 Memorandum Opinion Download Plaintiff's motion to voluntarily dismiss granted, American Petroleum Institute's and federal defendants' motions to dismiss denied as moot, and federal defendants' motion to remand denied as moot. After Settlement Reached, Federal Court Granted Conservation Groups’ Requests for Dismissal of Challenges to Oil and Gas Leases in Western States. In three lawsuits brought by conservation groups to challenge oil and gas leases on federal land in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, the federal district court for the District of Columbia granted the conservation groups’ motions for voluntary dismissal with prejudice after the groups and the federal defendants reached agreements to settle the three cases. Under the agreements, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will conduct additional National Environmental Policy Act analysis, consistent with the court’s earlier decisions that found flaws in BLM’s analysis of the leases’ impacts on climate change. In its decision granting voluntary dismissal, the court found that the plaintiffs sought voluntary dismissal in good faith and that industry defendant-intervenors did not establish that voluntary dismissal would result in clear legal prejudice to them (or undue prejudice, if reviewed under the standard for voluntary remand, as the intervenors argued). Having granted voluntary dismissal, the court denied as moot federal defendants’ motions to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, federal defendants’ motions to remand, and intervenors’ motions to dismiss on statute of limitations grounds. 05/05/2022 Reply Download Reply filed by federal defendants in support of motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(h)(3). 04/25/2022 Opposition Download Opposition to motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction filed by intervenor-defendants American Petroleum Institute, State of Wyoming, NAH Utah, LLC, and Anschutz Exploration Corporation. 04/11/2022 Motion to Dismiss Download Motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(h)(3) filed by federal defendants. 03/25/2022 Reply Download Reply filed by plaintiffs to oppositions to motion for voluntary dismissal. 03/22/2022 Status Report Download Joint status report filed regarding parties' positions on mootness of federal defendants' motion to remand. 03/18/2022 Opposition Download Opposition filed by Anschutz Exploration Corporation to plaintiffs' motion for voluntary dismissal. 03/18/2022 Opposition Download Opposition filed by intervenor-defendants American Petroleum Institute and State of Wyoming to motion for voluntary dismissal. 03/18/2022 Response Download Response filed by NAH Utah, LLC to plaintiffs' motion for voluntary dismissal. 03/04/2022 Motion Download Motion for voluntary dismissal filed by plaintiffs. 03/04/2022 Settlement Agreement Download Stipulated settlement agreement filed. The plaintiffs and the federal defendants filed a stipulated settlement agreement pursuant to which the defendants agreed to conduct additional NEPA analysis of the 28 leasing decisions at issue in this lawsuit. 03/02/2022 Status Report Download Joint status report filed. 10/20/2021 Order Plaintiffs and federal defendants ordered to file a joint status report by November 3, 2021 on the status of settlement negotiations. 08/13/2021 Opposition Download Opposition filed by American Petroleum Institute to plaintiffs' motions to stay. 08/13/2021 Opposition Download Memorandum of points and authorities filed by Anschutz Exploration Corporation in opposition to federal defendants' motion to remand. 08/13/2021 Opposition Download Opposition filed by NAH Utah, LLC to BLM's motion for remand without vacatur. 08/13/2021 Opposition Download Opposition filed by Wyoming to defendants' motion for remand without vacatur. 08/13/2021 Opposition Download Memorandum of points and authorities filed by Anschutz Exploration Corporation in opposition to federal defendants' motion to remand. 08/13/2021 Reply Download Reply filed by plaintiffs to American Petroleum Institute's opposition to motions to stay. 08/13/2021 Response Download Response filed by intervenor-defendant American Petroleum Institute to defendants' motion for voluntary remand. 08/12/2021 Opposition Download Memorandum of points and authorities filed by Anschutz Exploration Corporation in opposition to plaintiffs' motion to stay. 08/12/2021 Reply Download Consolidated reply filed by plaintiffs to Anschutz Exploration Corporation's opposition and NAH Utah, LLC's response to plaintiffs' motion to stay. 08/12/2021 Response Download Response filed by NAH Utah, LLC to plaintiffs' motion to stay proceedings. 08/10/2021 Motion Download Motion to stay proceedings filed by plaintiffs. Plaintiffs Reported Agreement in Principle Regarding Settlement of Challenges to Oil and Gas Lease Sales in Western U.S.. In three cases challenging oil and gas lease sales in the western United States, the plaintiffs asked the federal district court for the District of Columbia to stay the proceedings for 60 days to facilitate a negotiated final resolution of the cases. They reported that they had reached “an agreement in principle on a framework for a settlement agreement that would result in the stipulated dismissal” of the cases. The federal defendants did not oppose the motion, but certain intervenors opposed the stays on the grounds that challenges to some of the lease sales were untimely and that the court therefore should resolve intervenor American Petroleum Institute's motions to dismiss those claims in the interests of vindicating the purposes served by the Mineral Leasing Act’s 90-day limitations period for review of decisions involving oil and gas leases. The federal defendants previously sought voluntary remand of the cases. 08/06/2021 Reply Download Reply memorandum filed by intervenor-defendant American Petroleum Institute in support of motion to dismiss, or, in the alternative, for partial summary judgment. 07/30/2021 Motion Download Motion for voluntary remand filed. BLM Sought Remand Without Vacatur of NEPA Documents in Western State Oil and Gas Leasing Challenges. On July 30, 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) asked the federal district court for the District of Columbia for voluntary remand without vacatur of environmental assessments and findings of no significant impact in three cases challenging oil and gas lease sales in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The cases were filed in 2016, 2020, and 2021. The federal defendants told the court that they had determined that remand was appropriate to allow additional analysis under NEPA in light of the court’s November 2020 decision in the 2016 case that found shortcomings in the analysis of greenhouse gas emission associated with the Wyoming leases at issue in that case. The federal defendants asserted that remand without vacatur was appropriate because there was “at least a serious possibility” that BLM would be able to substantiate its decision on remand, because the court lacked authority to order vacatur without an independent determination that the leasing decisions did not comply with NEPA, and because the plaintiffs and intervenors would have an opportunity to challenge any decisions the agency made on remand. American Petroleum Institute, which intervened as a defendant in all three cases, filed motions to dismiss in the 2020 and 2021 lawsuits, arguing that challenges to some of the leases in the lawsuits were time-barred. In the 2021 case, API also argued that res judicata or the doctrine of laches should bar the plaintiffs from challenging leasing decisions issued prior to the plaintiffs’ filing of their 2020 lawsuit. 07/23/2021 Opposition Download Opposition filed to American Petroleum Institute motion to dismiss. 06/09/2021 Motion to Dismiss Download Memorandum filed in support of American Petroleum Institute's motion to dismiss, or, in the alternative, for partial summary judgment. 04/30/2021 Motion Download Motion to intervene filed by NAH Utah, LLC. 04/20/2021 Memorandum and Order Download American Petroleum Institute's motion to intervene granted. D.C. Federal Court Allowed Trade Group and Wyoming to Intervene in Challenge to Oil and Gas Leases. The federal district court for the District of Columbia allowed American Petroleum Institute and the State of Wyoming to intervene as defendants in a lawsuit filed earlier in 2021 in which environmental groups challenge BLM’s approval of 1,153 oil and gas leases on public lands in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The court found that both parties were entitled to intervene as of right. 04/20/2021 Memorandum and Order Download State of Wyoming's motion to intervene granted. 01/19/2021 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Lawsuits Challenged NEPA Reviews for Oil and Gas Lease Sales in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. On January 19, 2021, WildEarth Guardians and Physicians for Social Responsibility filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Columbia challenging 890 oil and gas leases covering more than one million acres across Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. They asserted that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to fully analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative climate change impacts of the leases. The plaintiffs alleged that although BLM had recognized and sought to remedy deficient NEPA reviews for other oil and gas lease sales after the court’s 2019 decision concerning Wyoming leases in another case, BLM had not done so with respect to the 19 lease sales challenged in this case.