Rocky Mountain Wild v. Bernhardt

Four conservation groups filed a lawsuit in federal court in Colorado challenging 121 oil and gas leases covering 117,720.59 acres in and around the Uinta Basin in northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah. The plaintiffs asserted that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. The complaint alleged that additional oil and gas development would further impair air quality and adversely affect Dinosaur National Monument and also asserted that greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas development threatened public health and the environment. With respect to climate change, the complaint alleged a failure by BLM to take a hard look at cumulative climate impacts “in conjunction with other past, present, and future lease sales in the Uinta Basin.”