Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management

Conservation groups and federal defendants filed a joint stipulation for dismissal of the groups’ lawsuit challenging oil and gas leasing decisions for public lands in New Mexico. Pursuant to an April 2022 settlement agreement, BLM had agreed to review the challenged decisions and prepare supplemental environmental assessments. On August 1, 2022, BLM issued decision records affirming the previous decisions to issue the lease parcels. Under the April settlement agreement, any challenge to the new decisions must be made in a new action.

Diné Citizens Against Ruining the Environment (Diné CARE) filed an unopposed motion to file a supplemental complaint that would challenge additional oil and gas lease sales in the Greater Chaco region in New Mexico. The proposed supplemental complaint would challenge 42 total parcels covering approximately 45,000 acres. Diné CARE asserted that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management failed to take a hard look at cumulative greenhouse gas emissions and cumulative climate change impacts, failed to take a hard look at health and environmental justice impacts, and should have prepared an environmental impact statement. Diné CARE also asserted a failure to comply with public participation requirements under NEPA and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.

Four organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's authorization and issuance of oil and gas leases on 30 parcels covering nearly 41,000 acres of land in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico. The organizations asserted violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The plaintiffs alleged a failure to take a hard look at environmental impacts, including cumulative greenhouse gas emissions and cumulative climate change impacts.