Powder River Basin Resource Council v. U.S. Department of the Interior

Filing Year For Action

The federal district court for the District of Columbia denied motions to stay pending appeal its February 2026 judgment vacating the environmental impact statement, record of decision, and related resource management plan amendment for the Converse County Oil and Gas Project in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. The court had found that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management violated its obligation under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to “rigorously evaluate a reasonable range of alternatives” by eliminating a greenhouse gas reduction alternative and an alternative that reduced the pace of oil and gas development. In its decision denying a stay, the court rejected the argument that it failed to accord deference to the defendants’ NEPA analysis as required by the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County as well as an argument that its vacatur of the agency actions was improper. The court also found that the intervenors (private energy companies and the State of Wyoming) did not establish irreparable harm or demonstrate that the plaintiffs’ or the public interest weighed in favor of a stay. Motions to stay the district court’s order have also been filed in the D.C. Circuit.