Living Rivers v. Bernhardt

Environmental and conservation groups filed a lawsuit in federal court in Utah challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s approval of rights-of-way that would enable construction and operation of commercial-scale oil-shale mine and processing plant. The complaint asserted claims under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act. With respect to climate change, the plaintiffs alleged that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s analysis of climate change impacts was inadequate and failed entirely to consider the climate impacts of end-use combustion of synthetic oil carried by the pipeline associated with part of the project.