ELR Citation: 45 ELR 20172
No(s). 14-02446 (D. Ariz. Sep 15, 2015) (Marquez, J.)

A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service violated NEPA when it categorically excluded from environmental review a mining company's proposed mineral exploration plan in the Coronado National Forest. The Forest Service categorically excluded the project because it concluded that the project would take less than one year to complete. It also concluded that no extraordinary circumstances, such as impacts to threatened or endangered species or cumulative impacts from other projects, precluded use of a categorical exclusion. But the record does not support the conclusion that the exploration project can be completed within one year. In addition, the Forest Service failed to analyze the cumulative effects of a nearby mineral exploration project, and it failed to explain why potential effects to the Mexican spotted owl are certain to be environmentally insignificant, thereby undermining its conclusion that no extraordinary circumstances preclude use of a categorical exclusion. Because the Forest Service should have prepared an EA but failed to, the court vacated the Service's approval of the exploration plan.