Description: Lawsuit challenging four oil and gas lease sales conducted in 2018 and 2019 that covered 215,325 acres of public lands in Utah.
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Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance v. U.S. Department of the Interior
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 11/03/2023 Complaint Download Complaint filed. New Lawsuit in Utah Federal Court Challenged Trump Administration Oil and Gas Lease Sales. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Utah challenging the NEPA review for four oil and gas lease sales covering 215,325 acres of public lands in Utah. The lease sales took place in 2018 and 2019. SUWA’s allegations included that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had not fully analyzed and disclosed the social cost of greenhouse gases in any leasing documents that it challenged, despite the Biden administration conducting such analysis for recent Utah oil and gas leasing decisions as part of the administration’s reversal of the Trump administration’s “energy dominance” agenda. The complaint asserted a failure to take a hard look at indirect impacts of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from oil and gas development. SUWA’s allegations also included that BLM should have considered more than “just two polar opposite alternatives: offer all parcels for development or offer no parcels for development.” SUWA previously challenged the 2018 leasing decisions at issue in this case and voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit after BLM decided to suspend the leases in 2019 pending completion of supplemental analysis of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, which was finalized in January 2021, six days before the end of the Trump administration.