ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20109
No(s). 22-cv-1871 (CRC) (D.D.C. Jul 16, 2024) (Cooper, J.)

A district court enjoined BLM from approving new applications for a permit to drill or authorizing new surface disturbance on lease parcels in conservation groups' challenge to the Bureau's decision to auction roughly 120,000 acres of public land in Wyoming for oil and gas development. The court previously held BLM had failed to comply with NEPA when assessing foreseeable impacts of future drilling on the leased parcels and explaining its decision to authorize a lease sale of this magnitude in light of the Bureau's own estimates of the steep social costs from projected greenhouse gas emissions; it granted partial summary judgment for the groups. It subsequently considered the appropriate remedy for BLM's procedural deficiencies and found that vacatur without remand was appropriate, accompanied by an injunction preventing BLM from approving new drilling permits on the leased parcels or authorizing new surface disturbing activities until it completes its supplemental NEPA review within 180 days.