Willamette Riverkeeper v. Teitzel

Environmental organizations that challenged the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) review of a project that allegedly involved logging on 4,600 acres in Oregon filed a notice of dismissal of their case without prejudice after BLM withdrew a finding of no significant impact (FONSI). The organizations had alleged, among other things, that BLM improperly excluded issues such as carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions from its analysis. In its notice announcing withdrawal of the FONSI, BLM said it would “consider new information, conduct additional analysis, and solicit further input from members of the public” if it chose to develop a new environmental assessment for the project. BLM and the National Marine Fisheries Service also indicated to the plaintiffs that whether future timber management occurred would depend on future NEPA analysis and consultation under the Endangered Species Act.

Environmental organizations filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Oregon alleging that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in its review of an action that allegedly approved “12 years … of high-intensity, year-round logging on approximately 4,600 acres of BLM lands” in Oregon. The organizations alleged that BLM’s environmental review excluded relevant issues, including carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions, from detailed analysis “on the grounds that they did not relate to the … Project’s narrowly defined purpose of timber production.”