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The Climate Litigation Database

Hayes v. Bernhardt

Geography
Year
2016
Document Type
Litigation
Part of

About this case

Filing year
2016
Status
Non-federal defendants' motion to dismiss denied.
Geography
Docket number
4:16-cv-00615
Court/admin entity
United States → United States Federal Courts → United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma (N.D. Okla.)
Case category
Federal Statutory Claims (US) → NEPA (US)
Principal law
United States → Administrative Procedure Act (APA)United States → National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
At issue
Document with title of Hayes v. Bernhardt
Topics
, ,  

Documents

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Filing Date
Document
Type
Topics
11/02/2020
Non-federal defendants' motion to dismiss denied.
The federal district court for the Northern District of Oklahoma denied non-federal defendants’ motion to dismiss a landowner’s lawsuit claiming that the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it approved oil and gas leases and drilling permits that affected his property. The Osage Nation controlled the land’s mineral rights. The court concluded that in “equity and good conscience” the lawsuit should proceed even though the Osage Minerals Council was a necessary party that could not be joined due to its sovereign status. The court also found that the landowner had standing since he alleged several ways in which his property, which was the site of the agency action, could be harmed by the challenged leases and drilling permits, including by further contribution to climate change.
Decision

Summary

Landowner's challenge to U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs approval of oil and gas leases and drilling permits that affected plaintiff's property where mineral rights were controlled by Osage Nation.

 Topics mentioned most in this case

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Group
Topics
Policy instrument
Risk
Impacted group
Fossil fuel
Economic sector
Finance