Kane County, Utah v. Jewell

Two rural Utah counties and a nonprofit group of which they and other rural counties were members filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the Secretary of the Interior’s order that imposed a moratorium on federal coal leasing while BLM prepared a programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) addressing climate change. The plaintiffs asserted that the moratorium was arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and contrary to law in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The plaintiffs also contended that the defendants violated the APA by failing to prepare an EIS prior to implementing the moratorium.