Wilderness Workshop v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management

The federal district court for the District of Colorado found that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM’s) environmental review for a Resource Management Plan for the Glenwood Springs Resource Area in Colorado failed to take a hard look at indirect effects of greenhouse gas emissions from combustion of oil and gas development in the planning area. The court also found, however, that BLM “took an appropriately hard look at the cumulative climate change impacts” and that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) did not require BLM to perform a cost-benefit analysis to take into account the “economic downsides” of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the court concluded that BLM had taken a sufficiently hard look at the issues of methane emissions and impacts of oil and gas development on human health but found that it had not considered reasonable alternatives to oil and gas development.