ELR Citation: 52 ELR 20091
No(s). 4:20-cv-00076-GF-BMM (D. Mont. Aug 3, 2022) (Morris, J.)

A district court granted summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to two BLM resource management plans for coal leasing in Montana and Wyoming. The groups argued BLM violated NEPA by failing to consider a reasonable range of alternatives and failing to consider the downstream impacts of non-greenhouse gas emissions. The Bureau moved for voluntary remand to reconsider the plans, but the court denied the request, finding that BLM's late-stage motion demonstrated a lack of good faith and would be frivolous. The court determined that the Bureau failed to consider a reasonable range of alternatives because notwithstanding differences in total allotted acreage, each alternative involved an identical amount of expected coal production, and thus it did not consider any alternatives that decreased the amount of extractable coal practically available for leasing. It also found that BLM failed to consider the downstream effect of non-greenhouse gas emissions related to coal combustion, despite the court's previous order requiring it to do so. It granted summary judgment for the groups.