ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20048
No(s). 22-cv-1871 (CRC) (D.D.C. Mar 22, 2024) (Cooper, J.)

A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for conservation groups in a challenge to BLM's authorization of a lease sale for oil and gas development in Wyoming. The groups argued BLM failed to take a "hard look" at the potential environmental impacts of the Wyoming sale, as required by NEPA, and that it violated the APA by treating the Wyoming lease sale differently from five other sales and by failing to justify a sale of this magnitude in light of the mounting climate crisis and its own estimates of the steep social costs from projected greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The court agreed with the groups that BLM erred when assessing the Wyoming sale’s impact on groundwater and wildlife and explaining how its analysis of GHG emissions influenced its leasing decisions, but was not persuaded by the groups' other challenges. It granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for the groups.