Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Zinke

The federal district court for the District of Alaska ruled that plaintiffs challenging 2016 and 2017 oil and gas lease sales for parcels in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska were time-barred from asserting claims that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to take a hard look at greenhouse gas emissions that would result from the lease sales or at alternative lease sale configurations, size, or timing. The court found that the plaintiffs were challenging the adequacy of an Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (IAP/EIS) finalized in 2012, and that, pursuant to the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976, challenges to the IAP/EIS were required to be filed within 60 days. Moreover, to the extent the plaintiffs challenged the lease sales themselves, the court found they had waived any argument that BLM should have supplemented the IAP/EIS. The court incorporated by reference its order granting summary judgment to the defendants in a <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/northern-alaska-environmental-center-v-us-department-interior/">separate challenge</a> to the 2017 lease sale.

In a lawsuit filed in the federal district court for the District of Alaska, Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. and three other environmental groups asserted that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act when it held an oil and gas lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in 2017 and also when it held a lease sale in 2016. The groups alleged, among other things, that BLM failed to consider the lease sales’ effects on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.