ELR Citation: 51 ELR 20021
No(s). 2:14-cv-00349-D (D. Utah Feb 5, 2021) (Nuffer, J.)

A district court upheld decisions made by BLM and the Forest Service regarding an oil and gas development project on public lands within the Ashley National Forest. An environmental group argued the agencies violated NEPA and the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) by failing to adequately assess the impacts on sage-grouse, namely by not considering a 2011 report issued by the Sage-Grouse National Technical Team (NTT) providing recommendations for BLM's regionwide land management process for the species. The court found the Service considered the latest science and relevant available information in designing its core mitigation measures, including a majority of the studies underlying the NTT report, and thus determined the agency took the requisite "hard look" at the impacts. It further found that because the range of alternatives the Service considered were not outside the rule of reason and practicality, its failure to consider an alternative based on the NTT report did not render the agencies' decisions arbitrary or capricious. It also found the agencies did not violate the NFMA with respect to the NTT report. The group next argued the agencies violated NEPA and the Roadless Area Conservation Rule because they did not consider an alternative that would avoid destruction of inventoried roadless areas. The court found the Service considered a reasonable range of alternatives and met its burden in briefly discussing the reasons for eliminating this alternative from detailed analysis, and that the Roadless Rule did not apply to the final EIS or record of decision issued for the project. Last, the group argued the agencies violated NEPA, the NFMA, and other standards related to the project's impact on air quality, but the court found the group failed to satisfy its burden of demonstrating that the Service's decisions were arbitrary and capricious with respect to such impacts. It therefore dismissed the suit.