Description: Challenge to leasing plan in Powder River Basin.
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WildEarth Guardians v. Salazar
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 05/10/2012 Memorandum Opinion Download Memorandum opinion issued. The district court dismissed the action, holding that the groups lacked standing. Plaintiffs appealed the decision. 04/04/2011 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Three environmental groups filed suit against the Department of the Interior (DoI), alleging that it failed to properly plan leasing in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. The lawsuit alleges that that DoI and BLM violated the Administrative Procedure Act by refusing to manage the area as a “coal producing region.” Such a designation would put more regulatory requirements on BLM to plan the management of leases instead of managing them under the current competitive leasing process. According to the complaint, the basin produces about 42 percent of the country’s coal. The complaint was filed two weeks after DoI announced four further lease sales for 758 million tons of coal, as well as four records of decision offering for development coal tracts in the basin estimated to produce 1.6 million tons of coal.