Backcountry Against Dumps v. U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs

A lawsuit filed in the federal district court for the Eastern District of California asserted that the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs failed to fully address harms to the Campo Band of Diegueño Mission Indians and the surrounding community when it authorized a lease for development, construction, operation, and maintenance of renewable energy generation facilities, including 60 wind turbines. The complaint—which alleged violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle Protection Act—alleged that the environmental impact statement “paints a rosy picture” of global warming impacts but that its analysis failed to calculate the project’s entire life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, including all life cycle emissions from construction activities.