ELR Citation: 52 ELR 20098
No(s). 4:17-cv-00030-BMM and 4:17-cv-00042-BMM (D. Mont. Aug 12, 2022) (Morris, J.)

A district court reinstated a 2016 moratorium on new coal leasing on public lands that had been lifted by a DOI secretarial order in 2017. Environmental groups, states, and a Native American tribe initially filed suit challenging DOI's decision to lift the moratorium, and the court determined the decision was a major federal action and directed BLM to conduct a NEPA analysis. The plaintiffs then challenged the resulting NEPA analysis, arguing that BLM's final EA and FONSI violated NEPA, FLPMA, the Mineral Leasing Act, and its trust obligation to the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. DOI subsequently issued a secretarial order in 2021 that revoked the 2017 order and directed agencies to submit a plan to reverse, amend, or update the policies created to implement the 2017 order. BLM argued the 2021 order rendered the controversy moot. The court found a live controversy persisted because the 2021 order did not resume the moratorium, and thus that the 2017 order remained in partial effect. It further found BLM failed to comply with the requirements of NEPA because it limited the scope of its analysis to only four leases and such analysis was arbitrarily curtailed and failed to consider relevant factors. The court denied plaintiffs' other claims as moot subject to further NEPA review, and reinstated the moratorium until the completion of NEPA review analyzing revocation of the moratorium.