Center for Biological Diversity v. Bureau of Land Management

Two lawsuits were filed in the federal district court for the District of Alaska challenging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) approval of the Willow Master Development Plan (Willow Project) in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The Willow Project consists of three drilling sites and related support infrastructure, including a processing facility, airstrip, operations center, gravel mine, gravel roads, and pipelines. BLM issued a new record of decision authorizing the project on March 13, 2023 after preparing a supplemental EIS on remand from a 2021 district court decision that found shortcomings in BLM’s 2020 review of the project, including failure to adequately assess downstream greenhouse gas emissions from foreign oil consumption. The plaintiffs in the second case are five environmental organizations led by Center for Biological Diversity. They assert claims under NEPA, NPRPA, and the Endangered Species Act. Under NEPA, they assert a failure to consider an adequate range of alternatives, including a failure to assess “any alternatives that meaningfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” The complaint also asserts that the supplemental EIS failed to assess the Willow Project’s “full climate consequences” by failing to assess downstream greenhouse gas emissions from reasonably foreseeable future oil development that the project will facilitate. Under the Endangered Species Act, the plaintiffs allege that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service failed to consider how increased greenhouse gas emissions from the project may affect survival and recovery of ice-dependent species (i.e., polar bears, Arctic ringed seals, and bearded seals).