Natural Resources Defense Council v. McCarthy

Environmental and conservation groups filed a lawsuit in Utah federal court challenging BLM’s decision to lift a 12-year-old ban on cross-country off-highway vehicle (OHV) travel on 5,400 acres of public lands east of the entrance to Capitol Reef National Park. The complaint—which asserted violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act—alleged that BLM was allowing OHV use without performing environmental review of its impacts, including climate change impacts. The complaint alleged that “[i]n a changing climate, aridification combined with land uses that increase dust emissions have synergistic and significant consequences.”