ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20028
No(s). CV 19-12-M-DWM (D. Mont. Feb 10, 2023) (Molloy, J.)

A district court vacated on remand OSM's approval of an underground coal mine expansion in central Montana. Environmental groups initially challenged OSM's 2018 EA for the proposed expansion. The Ninth Circuit held that OSM violated NEPA by failing to provide convincing reasons for its determination that the expansion's impacts were insignificant. It ordered the agency to conduct a new EA, and remanded to the district court to determine whether vacatur was warranted. OSM subsequently decided to prepare an EIS to address the concerns raised by the appellate court. On remand, the district court found that OSM's errors were sufficiently serious to warrant vacatur because they cast substantial doubt on the agency's decision to approve the expansion in the first instance, and that such doubt was only amplified by its unilateral decision to prepare an EIS at this stage in the proceedings. It vacated the approval and remanded to OSM to prepare an EIS.