Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance v. Bernhardt

Environmental groups, federal defendants, and intervenor-defendants stipulated to the dismissal of the environmental groups’ challenge to an oil and gas lease encompassing public lands within the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness in southeastern Utah. The plaintiffs’ allegations included that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management failed to adequately analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative climate change impacts of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the lease. The plaintiffs and defendants reached a settlement in December 2022. One of the intervenor-defendants that stipulated to dismissal of the case noted that it had been left out of the settlement discussions.

The plaintiffs and federal defendants requested a continuation of the stay for 30 days to allow the plaintiffs and intervenor NAH Utah, LLC to continue to discuss settlements.

The parties requested that the stay of proceedings be continued to allow the parties to take steps to finalize settlement agreement.

The parties requested that the stay of proceedings be continued to allow the parties to finalize the terms of a settlement agreement.

The parties requested that the stay of proceedings be continued to allow the parties to finalize the terms of a settlement agreement.

The court denied the plaintiffs' renewed motion for preliminary injunctive relief, finding that they failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits of their argument that BLM failed to analyze cumulative effects on water consumption when it approved the rights-of-way.

After BLM issued its approval documents on December 23, the environmental groups filed an amended and supplemented complaint and a renewed motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. The court held a hearing on January 6, 2021.

On December 22, 2020, the federal district court for the District of Columbia issued an order pursuant to the All Writs Act temporarily enjoining any ground-disturbing work undertaken pursuant to the anticipated approval by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of a helium extraction project in an area of the San Rafael Desert in southeastern Utah covered by an oil and gas lease sold in December 2018. The lease area is part of lands subsequently designated as the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness by the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act in March 2019.

On December 14, four environmental groups filed a lawsuit in the court to block the Secretary of the Interior and other defendants from approving applications for permit to drill under an oil and gas lease sold in December 2018. The lease area is part of lands subsequently designated as the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness by the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act in March 2019. The environmental groups asserted that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which prepared a “Determination of NEPA Adequacy” to support sale and issuance of the lease, failed to analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative climate change impacts of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the leasing decision. They alleged that BLM was “poised to approve” the helium drilling project despite not having finalized the “curative” National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis it had undertaken in response to the district court’s March 2019 decision in <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/wp-content/uploads/case-documents/2019/20190319_docket-116-cv-01724_memorandum-opinion-1.pdf">WildEarth Guardians v. Zinke</a>, where the court held that BLM failed to adequately analyze greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts of oil and gas leases in Wyoming. The plaintiffs alleged that BLM recognized, based on WildEarth Guardians v. Zinke, that it had violated NEPA in connection with “hundreds of oil and gas leases” in Utah, including the lease at issue in this case. The plaintiffs also asserted that BLM violated NEPA and the Administrative Procedure Act when the Trump administration reversed course on the Obama administration’s plan to complete a master leasing plan for the San Rafael Desert prior to authorizing new mineral development.