Healthy Gulf v. Haaland

In the District of Columbia, five environmental groups filed suit in federal district court challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s decision to hold Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 261. The groups asserted that the lease sale decision violated NEPA and the Administrative Procedure Act. Their allegations included that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s climate change analysis “relied on problematic modeling and assumptions that both underestimated the emissions resulting from Lease Sale 261 and overestimated emissions from the no leasing alternative.” The plaintiffs also alleged that BOEM’s analysis of the significance of greenhouse gas emissions should have considered “relevant climate action goals and commitments.” They also alleged that BOEM failed to consider the climate impacts of the lease sale and other oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico on Gulf communities.