Dakota Res. Council v. U.S. Dep't of the Interior

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DAKOTA RESOURCE COUNCIL, et al., Plaintiffs, v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR, et al., Defendants.

No. 22-cv-1853 (CRC)

United States District Court, District of Columbia

March 22, 2024

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CHRISTOPHER R. COOPER United States District Judge

The mounting climate crisis has spurred countless citizens companies, and government actors to reassess their policies and practices concerning greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. The Bureau of Land Management (“BLM” or “the Bureau”) is no exception. Over the past few years, the Bureau has responded to calls to revamp its methods for analyzing the environmental impact of GHG emissions stemming from fossil-fuel development on federal land. And in June 2022, it employed these new and improved tools when assessing the effects of six lease sales for oil and gas development that the Bureau authorized across the western United States.

Still dissatisfied, Dakota Resource Council and other conservation groups (collectively, “the Conservation Groups”) filed suit. They contend BLM's “deficient” environmental analysis violated the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq. Moreover, they assert that the Bureau's authorization of the six lease sales in the face of broadscale climate degradation ran afoul of its substantive duties under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (“FLPMA”), 43 U.S.C § 1701 et seq.

The Court appreciates the Conservation Groups' concerns and the potentially existential threat that continued GHG emissions pose, yet it finds no legal error in the Bureau's environmental analysis or its decision to approve the challenged lease sales. Operating at the frontiers of science, BLM reasonably exhausted available tools to analyze the lease sales' environmental consequences: It estimated the amount of GHG emissions from the lease sales; placed those projections in proper perspective; monetized the social cost of the emissions; described why it cannot predict the on-the-ground effects that this level of GHG emissions will have on the local ecosystem or global environment; and explained why, absent a government carbon budget or similar reference standard, it was not possible to determine whether the estimated emissions would have a “significant” impact on the environment. While many observers may find that result unsatisfying, it was all that was required to comply with NEPA in this ever-evolving scientific and regulatory landscape. And, on this record, there is no reason to conclude that the lease sales will cause “unnecessary and undue degradation” under the FLPMA. Id. § 1732(b). The Court will, accordingly, deny the Conservation Groups' motion for summary judgment and grant the Bureau's and Intervenors' cross-motions.

I. Background

A. Legal Background

The Department of Interior (“Interior” or “the Department”), where BLM resides, manages oil and gas development on federal land pursuant to the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 (“MLA”), 30 U.S.C. §§ 181-287, and the FLPMA. The MLA directs the Secretary of the Interior to manage fossil-fuel development on federal land in a manner that “safeguard[s] . . . the public welfare.” Id. § 187. It further provides that “[l]ease sales shall be held for each State where eligible lands are available [for oil and gas development] at least quarterly and more frequently if the Secretary of Interior determines such sales are necessary.” Id. § 226(b)(1)(A). Despite the mandatory language, however, the Secretary has discretion to decide where, when, and under what terms and conditions oil and gas development should occur. See id. § 226; 43 C.F.R. § 3101.1-2.

That discretion is guided and constrained by the FLPMA, which directs Interior to “manage the public lands under principles of multiple use and substantial yield.” 43 U.S.C. § 1732(a). “Multiple use” means “a combination of balanced and diverse resource uses that takes into account the long-term needs of future generations for renewable and nonrenewable resources, including, but not limited to, recreation, range, timber, minerals, watershed, wildlife and fish, and natural scenic, scientific and historical values.” Id. § 1702(c). The FLPMA lists “mineral exploration and production” as one of the “principal or major uses” of public lands. Id. § 1702(1). But development is not the only, or even the primary, use Interior must balance. The FLPMA further instructs Interior to prevent “permanent impairment of the productivity of the land and the quality of the environment with consideration being given to the relative values of the resources and not necessarily to the combination of uses that will give the greatest economic return or the greatest unit output.” Id. § 1702(c). To that end, the Department must “take any action necessary to prevent unnecessary or undue degradation of the lands” and “minimize adverse impacts on the natural, environmental, scientific, cultural, and other resources and values (including fish and wildlife habitat) of the public lands involved.” Id. § 1732(b), (d)(2)(A).

Pursuant to these statutory requirements, BLM manages oil and gas development on federal lands through a three-stage process of planning, leasing, and drilling. At the first stage, each BLM field office prepares a resource management plan (“RMP”) for its assigned region. Id. § 1712(a); 43 C.F.R. §§ 1601.0-5(n), 1610.1. The RMP “describes, for a particular area, allowable uses, goals for future condition of the land, and specific next steps.” Norton v. S. Utah Wilderness All., 542 U.S. 55, 59 (2004) (citation omitted). This includes determining which areas will be open to oil and gas leasing and what conditions will be placed on later development. See 43 U.S.C. § 1712(a); 43 C.F.R. § 1601.0-5(n).

At the second stage, BLM may issue leases for the development of oil or gas on specific parcels within an area designated as open to leasing under the RMP. 43 U.S.C. § 1712(e); 43 C.F.R. § 3120.1-1. In accordance with the MLA, lease sales occur quarterly via a competitive bidding process. See 30 U.S.C. § 226(b)(1)(A). The Bureau first receives public expressions of interest (“EOIs”) and conducts an internal review to ensure that nominated parcels conform with the relevant RMPs. 43 C.F.R. §§ 3120.1-1, 3120.3-1. It then posts online a list of the parcels under consideration for public scoping and, after soliciting comments, selects certain parcels as candidates for oil and gas leases. Id. § 3120.4-2. These leases confer “the right to use so much of the leased lands as is necessary to explore for, drill for, mine, extract, remove and dispose of all the leased resource in a leasehold.” Id. § 3101.1-2. But they do not directly authorize development or surface disturbance, see id. § 3162.3-1(c), as BLM may impose “stipulations as conditions of lease issuance” to “minimize adverse impacts to other resource values,” id. §§ 3101.1-2, 3101.1-3.

At the third and final stage, a lessee seeking to extract oil and gas on an issued lease must file an Application for Permit to Drill (“APD”). Before approving the APD, the Bureau must confirm the application complies with the RMP, see id. § 1610.5-3, and may condition approval on the lessee's adoption of “reasonable measures” to mitigate the environmental impact, see Id. § 3101.1-2.

At each step along the way, BLM must comply with the procedures set forth in NEPA. Known as our “basic national charter for the protection of the environment,” 40 C.F.R. § 1500.1, NEPA implements a series of procedural requirements to ensure “agencies take a hard look at the environmental consequences” before making “any irreversible and irretrievable commitment of resources.” Robertson v. Methow Valley Citizens Council, 490 U.S. 332, 348, 350 (1989) (citations omitted); see also 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C)(v). NEPA requires that agencies prepare a “detailed statement,” known as an Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”), for “major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.” 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C). If it is uncertain whether a proposed action will significantly affect the environment, and thus whether an EIS is required, an agency may prepare an Environmental Assessment (“EA”). See 40 C.F.R. § 1501.3-4. An EA is a “concise public document” discussing the proposed action's environmental impacts, which informs the agency's decision on whether to prepare an EIS. Id.

§ 1508.1(h). If the agency concludes an EIS is not required, it issues a Finding of No Significant Impact (“FONSI”) “briefly presenting the reasons why an action . . . will not have a significant effect on the human environment.” Id. § 1508.1(1). “The statement of reasons is crucial to determining whether the agency took a ‘hard look' at the potential environmental impact of a project.” Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project v. Blackwood, 161 F.3d 1208, 1212 (9th Cir. 1998) (citations omitted).

By regulation, “[a]pproval of a resource management plan is considered a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment” and requiring an EIS. 43 C.F.R. § 1601.0-6. While the sale of oil and gas leases also represents an “irreversible and irretrievable commitment of resources” that triggers NEPA duties, Sierra Club v. Peterson, 717 F.2d 1409 1414 (D.C. Cir. 1983), BLM must perform a full-blown EIS at this stage only if the sale is projected to have a “significant” environmental impact, 43 C.F.R. § 3162.3-1(c). At the lease stage, then, BLM usually starts by preparing an EA. If it determines based on the EA that the lease sale will significantly affect the environment, it prepares an EIS. Otherwise, it issues a FONSI along with a “Record of Decision” specifying which, if any, parcels it is offering for sale...