ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20028
No(s). 22-35789 and 22-35790 (9th Cir. Feb 21, 2024)

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit vacated a district court's judgment reinstating a 2016 moratorium on new coal leasing on public lands that was lifted by a DOI secretarial order in 2017. Environmental groups, several states, and a tribe argued BLM's final EA and FONSI violated NEPA. 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 it. BLM then argued the 2021 order rendered the controversy moot, but the district 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 NEPA because it limited the scope of its analysis to only four leases, and reinstated the moratorium pending a more complete NEPA review. The appellate court disagreed, finding the 2021 order definitively revoked the 2017 order such that it was legally nonexistent and could not be changed through further NEPA analysis. It vacated the district court's judgment and remanded with instructions to dismiss the case as moot.