WildEarth Guardians v. United States Forest Service

The federal district court for the District of Wyoming upheld federal approvals for two large coal leases in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. The court’s decision in three consolidated cases rejected a number of claims by environmental groups, including that the review under NEPA had not given sufficient consideration to the leases’ impact on climate change. Citing the “very deferential” stance it was required to take, the court said the disclosure of the effects of greenhouse emissions was adequate, but suggested that “today the analysis likely could have been better given the development and acquisition of new knowledge and continuing scientific study.” The court noted that the agencies had not ignored the effects of coal combustion, but that uncertainty regarding such effects was created by the fact that the coal would enter the free marketplace rather than go to a particular power plant. The court also rejected claims under the Federal Land Policy Management Act, the National Forest Management Act, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, and the Mineral Leasing Act. The court did, however, reject an intervenor’s argument that the petitioners did not have standing to make claims that the agencies had failed to adequately consider climate change or greenhouse gas emissions.

Three environmental groups sued the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) concerning the agency’s consent to lease nearly 2,000 acres in the Thunder Basin National Grassland in Wyoming for coal mining, alleging violations of NEPA, the Administrative Procedure Act, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, and the National Forest Management Act.  Under federal law, coal mining is prohibited on national grasslands without permission from USFS.  The complaint alleged that the Bureau of Land Management’s environmental impact statement concerning the coal leases was legally inadequate.