Wildearth Guardians et al v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management et al

Filing 39

ORDER re 1 Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief. The Court VACATES the findings of no significant impact; The Court VACATES the leases; and The Court REMANDS this matter to BLM for further analysis, consistent with the Court's discussion above, of the environmental impacts of the decision to grant the leases at issue. PLEASE SEE ORDER FOR FULL DETAILS. Signed by Judge Brian Morris on 5/1/2020. (MMS)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MONTANA
GREAT FALLS DIVISION
WILDEARTH GUARDIANS, MONTANA
ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
CENTER, DAVID KATS, BONNIE
MARTINELL, and JACK MARTINELL,
Plaintiffs,

CV-18-73-GF-BMM

ORDER

vs.
U.S. BUREAU OF LAND
MANAGEMENT, an agency within the
U.S. Department of the Interior, DAVID
BERNHARDT, in his official capacity as
Secretary of the United States Department
of the Interior, DONATO JUDICE, in his
official capacity as Montana Bureau of
Land Management Deputy State Director,
Defendants.

INTRODUCTION
Plaintiffs Wildearth Guardians, et al. (collectively “Wildearth”) allege that
Defendants U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s, et al. (collectively “BLM”) failed
to consider risks to Montana’s environment and water supply before issuing 287
oil and gas leases covering 145,063 acres in December 2017 and March 2018 lease
sales. (Doc. 25-1 at 1). Wildearth specifically brings four claims under the National

Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). First, Wildearth alleges that BLM failed to
consider the impacts from issuing oil and gas leases on Montana’s groundwater
from shallow fracturing and surface casing depth. (Id. at 26.) Wildearth also
alleges that BLM failed to consider reasonable alternatives that would lessen the
impacts to Montana’s groundwater supply. (Id. at 35.) Wildearth next alleges that
BLM failed to consider the combined impacts on climate of the lease sales as a
whole. (Id. at 21.) Wildearth alleges finally that BLM improperly determined that
the leases would not significantly impact Montana’s environment. (Id. at 39.)
STATUTORY AND REGULATORY BACKGROUND
Summary Judgment
A court should grant summary judgment where the movant demonstrates
that no genuine dispute exists “as to any material fact” and the movant is “entitled
to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). Summary judgment remains
appropriate for resolving a challenge to a federal agency’s actions when review
will be based primarily on the administrative record. Pit River Tribe v. U.S. Forest
Serv., 469 F.3d 768, 778 (9th Cir. 2006).
The Administrative Procedure Act
Courts review agency NEPA decisions under the Administrative Procedure
Act (“APA”). Barnes v. Fed. Aviation Admin., 865 F.3d 1266, 1269 (9th Cir.
2017). The APA instructs a reviewing court to “hold unlawful and set aside”
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agency action deemed “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise
not in accordance with law.” 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A); see Ctr. for Biological
Diversity v. Nat’l Highway Traffic Safety Admin., 538 F.3d 1172, 1194 (9th Cir.
2008). Courts should only uphold agency actions under this standard when a
rational connection exists between the facts found and the conclusions made in
support of the agency’s action. W. Watersheds Project v. Kraayenbrink, 632 F.3d
472, 481 (9th Cir. 2011).
NEPA
NEPA serves as the “basic national charter for protection of the
environment.” 40 C.F.R. § 1500.1(a). NEPA applies when agencies undertake
“new proposed ‘major Federal action[s].’” Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. Salazar,
706 F.3d 1085, 1094 (9th Cir. 2013). NEPA protects the environment by requiring
federal agencies to “take a ‘hard look’ at environmental consequences” of their
decision-making. Robertson v. Methow Valley Citizens Council, 490 U.S. 332, 350
(1989) (quoting Kleppe v. Sierra Club, 427 U.S. 390, 410 n.21 (1976)). The statute
“does not mandate particular results.” Id. NEPA instead “prescribes the necessary
process” that agencies must follow to identify and evaluate “adverse environmental
effects of the proposed action.” Id.
This necessary process requires agencies to prepare a “detailed statement.”
42 U.S.C. § 4332(C). The statement may take different forms. All “major Federal
3

actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment” require the
agency to prepare an environmental impact statement (“EIS”). California ex rel.
Lockyer v. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., 575 F.3d 999, 1012 (9th Cir. 2009) (quoting 42
U.S.C. § 4332(C)). An EIS must include a “full and fair discussion” of the effects
of the proposed action, including those on the “affected region, the affected
interests, and the locality.” 40 C.F.R. §§ 1502.1, 1508.27(a).
NEPA does not always require an EIS to ensure that an agency has taken a
“hard look” at potential environmental impacts. Lockyer, 575 F.3d at 1012. An
agency may comply with NEPA through the preparation of the following
documents and accompanying analysis: (1) a less extensive EA and a finding of no
significant impact on the environment (“FONSI”); see 40 C.F.R. § 1508.9; or (2) a
categorical exclusion and finding that the action does not individually or
cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment, see 40 C.F.R. §
1508.4.
An agency must consider certain issues regardless of what form the detailed
statement takes. These issues include, among others, all “direct,” “indirect,” and
cumulative impacts from an action. 40 C.F.R. § 1502.16; see 40 C.F.R. § 1508.7.
Agencies also must consider “alternatives to the proposed action.” 42 U.S.C. §
4332(C)(iii).

4

MLA and FLPMA
NEPA applies to many decisions that agencies make when carrying out the
Mineral Leasing Act (“MLA”) and Federal Land Policy and Management Act
(“FLPMA”). The MLA and FLPMA govern BLM’s management of oil and gas
drilling on public lands. BLM follows a three-stage process to manage oil and gas
leasing. See N.M. ex rel. Richardson v. BLM, 565 F.3d 683, 689 n.1 (10th Cir.
2009)
Resource Management Plan (“RMP”) Stage: BLM prepares an RMP, which
operates similar to a zoning plan, to define the allowable uses of public lands
within the planning area. See 43 U.S.C. § 1712. BLM determines at the RMP stage
what areas to make open for oil and gas leasing and under what conditions. See 43
U.S.C. § 1712(a). BLM prepares an EIS during the RMP stage that evaluates the
expected impact of potential land management decisions made in that plan,
including oil and gas development. See Richardson, 565 F.3d at 692, 703.
Expression of Interest (“EOI”) Stage: After lands have been designated as
open or closed for oil and gas development at the RMP stage, companies may
submit EOIs to nominate specific parcels of land for inclusion in an oil and gas
lease sale. BLM makes the lands available through a competitive leasing process if
BLM determines the lands to be eligible. 43 U.S.C. § 3120.1-1.

5

Application for Permit to Drill Stage (“APD”): The third stage involves a
lessees’ submission of applications for permits to drill and BLM’s issuance of the
leases. BLM’s issuance of a lease constitutes “an irretrievable commitment of
resources.” See 43 C.F.R. § 3162.3-1(c).
Factual Background
Wildearth’s challenge involves two lease sales in Montana – the December
2017 lease sale and the March 2018 lease sale. These lease sales involved four
planning areas: HiLine, Billings, Butte, and Miles City. The March 2018 lease sale
covered parcels in the Billings, Butte, and Miles City planning areas. Each BLM
field office that corresponds to those planning areas prepared an EA and FONSI
for only the parcels of land in their area. The December 2017 lease sale offered
parcels that fell exclusively in the Miles City planning area.
All four EAs examined two alternatives: (1) no action, and (2) the proposed
action of offering the leases for sale. Each of the lease sales “tiered” to the RMP
and accompanying EIS. BLM approved the lease sales. BLM concluded that the
lease sales comported with the relevant RMPs, national policy, and statutory
requirements. BLM determined that the EAs set forth stipulations and lease notices
designed to avoid or minimize impacts to resources. Wildearth challenges the lease
sales on the grounds that the lease sales fail to comply with NEPA.

6

ANALYSIS
I.

BLM must discuss groundwater impacts with greater specificity.
NEPA’s “hard look” obligation requires agencies to consider potential

environmental impacts, including “all foreseeable direct and indirect impacts,” and
“should involve a discussion of adverse impacts that does not improperly minimize
negative side effects.” N. Alaska Envtl. Ctr. v. Kempthorne, 457 F.3d 969, 975 (9th
Cir. 2006) (quoting Idaho Sporting Congress, Inc. v. Rittenhouse, 305 F.3d 957,
973 (9th Cir. 2002)). Whether an impact is “reasonably foreseeable” depends on
whether there exists a “reasonably close causal relationship” between the agency’s
action and the environmental impact. Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. BLM, 937 F.
Supp. 2d 1140, 1155 (N.D. Cal. 2013).
Neither BLM nor Wildearth dispute that BLM had an obligation to consider
the impacts to groundwater from shallow fracturing and surface casing depth.
Wildearth correctly points out that BLM had substantial evidence before it that
showed (1) there was a potential risk to drinking water from a failure to extend
surface casing below drinking water sources, and (2) there was a potential risk to
groundwater from shallow hydraulic fracturing. (See Doc. 25-1 at 27-28.) This
evidence and Wildearth’s protest triggered NEPA’s hard look requirement for
BLM. Kempthorne, 457 F.3d at 975.

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BLM claims that it took a hard look at both of Wildearth’s complaints. BLM
walks through all the places in the various EAs where it addressed Wildearth’s
complaints. Many of the citations on which BLM relies prove irrelevant to
Wildearth’s specific complaints. For example, BLM spends nearly three pages of
its cross-motion for summary judgment discussing how the leases would impact
water quantity. (Doc. 29 at 18-20.) This summary of BLM’s analysis might be
useful if Wildearth had brought claims that BLM had failed to analyze how the
lease sales would affect water supply. Wildearth did not. Similarly, BLM cites its
discussion of “[s]urface disturbance” and how it “could accelerate erosion and
diminish water quality.” (Id. at 20.) Wildearth brings no claims related to surface
disturbance and its effect on water quality. BLM discusses how the improper
storage of drilling fluids could cause groundwater contamination. (Id. at 21.) BLM
recognized that “areas that rely on declining groundwater are vulnerable to impacts
from hydraulic fracturing withdrawals.” (Id. at 21.) These descriptions again prove
interesting, but irrelevant. A weatherman proves unhelpful if he says “it’s going to
be windy tomorrow” when asked if it will rain. BLM proves just as unresponsive
here.
The rest of BLM’s responses prove similarly deficient as BLM merely
recites a list of facts about hydraulic fracturing spills without providing specific
responses to Wildearth’s complaints about the potential role of shallow fracturing
8

and surface casing depth in fracturing spills. For example, BLM states that it
“acknowledged that surface water and groundwater contamination could occur
from spills and from the fluids used in hydraulic fracturing.” (Id. at 20-21.) BLM
notes that “chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing are ‘known to be hazardous to
human health.’” (Id. at 21.) BLM also asserts that it acknowledged that the HiLine
region had a low potential for groundwater contamination because thousands of
feet and impermeable layers typically separated groundwater and oil reserves.
(Doc. 31 at 11.)
All of these statements mirror Wildearth original complaints regarding what
role shallow fracturing and surface casing depth will play in spills and how will
groundwater be affected. Our erstwhile weatherman proves similarly unhelpful
when he says “it’s going to rain” after someone asks how much it will rain
tomorrow. He hits closer to the mark than he did with his windy response, but not
close enough.
BLM relies on a third category of statements that it argues analyze
adequately the issues raised by Wildearth. (See Doc. 31 at 10-11.) This third
category of statements also fails to satisfy NEPA because they lack the specificity
necessary to comply with NEPA at the leasing stage. For example, BLM cites to
the Billings sale EA and suggests that it “acknowledge[ed] that potential for
contamination from hydraulic fracturing can increase when there is little to no
9

vertical distance between the oil- or gas-formation and freshwater resources.” (Id.)
This statement informs Wildearth and the public what they already know.
BLM’s statement that it previously had analyzed an APD that showed the
drilling depth would be 20,015 feet and surface casing depth would be 1,800 feet
does not move the analysis any closer to NEPA compliance. To be aware that
surface casing does not extend to the full length of a well bore says little about the
impacts of this fact on groundwater. (See id. at 11.) BLM’s defense that it “noted
that surface casing must be properly set and cemented to protect surface aquifers
from contamination and that usable water may exist at greater depths than the
surface casing extends” falls short. This statement, like the others, brings nothing
new to the analysis and fails to satisfy NEPA’s hard look requirement. (See id.)
These statements all fail to satisfy NEPA’s hard look requirement because,
at best, they prove to be “general statements about ‘possible’ effects and ‘some
risk.’” Or. Nat. Desert Ass’n v. Rose, 921 F.3d 1185, 1191 (9th Cir. 2019) (quoting
Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project v. Blackwood, 161 F.3d 1208, 1214 (9th Cir.
1998)); see Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Ctr. v. BLM, 387 F.3d 989, 994 (9th Cir.
2004). The Ninth Circuit in Klamath-Siskiyou held that an EA proved inadequate
because it provided nothing but “general statements” about possible effects. The
EA “informed [the reader] only that a particular environmental factor will be
‘unchanged,’ ‘improved,’ or ‘degraded,’ and whether that the change would be
10

‘minor’ or ‘major.’” 387 F.3d at 994. The EA failed to tell “the reader . . . what
data the conclusion was based on, or why objective data cannot be provided.” Id.
Here, BLM fails to provide even the information that the Ninth Circuit found
lacking in Klamath-Siskiyou. The EAs, as discussed above, largely fail to inform
the reader whether groundwater would be unchanged, improved, or degraded and it
certainly fails to explain what data would lead to these conclusions. See KlamathSiskiyou, 387 F.3d at 994.
Of note, none of the cases that BLM cites in its cross-motion for summary
judgment prove contrary. In Friends of Yosemite Valley v. Norton, 348 F.3d 789
(9th Cir. 2003), the Ninth Circuit allowed the National Park Service to defer
analysis to future decisions for a comprehensive management plan. See id.at 801.
This plan merely provided “broad guidelines for future approved actions” and did
not “constitute[] an irreversible and irretrievable commitment of resources.” Id.
(quotation marks omitted) (quoting California v. Block, 690 F.2d 753, 801 (9th Cir.
1982)). BLM’s issuance of the leases at issue here, by contrast, constitutes an
“irreversible and irretrievable commitment of resources.” Further, the agency in
Norton conceded that it would need to “prepare appropriate environmental review
([pursuant to the] National Environmental Policy Act, National Historic
Preservation Act, and other relevant legislation) for . . . future actions” guided by
the comprehensive management plan. Id. (alterations in original). The agency
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further conceded that this review “will include, where appropriate, data-gathering
and analysis of system-wide impacts.” Id. The future actions contemplated in
Norton would be analogous to the leasing phase in this case, meaning that BLM
needs to analyze potential “system-wide impacts.” Id.
BLM’s reliance on Citizens for a Healthy Community v. BLM, 377 F. Supp.
3d 1223 (D. Colo. 2019), also misses the mark. BLM claims that “the court held
that [the agency] took a” hard look at water impacts because it “acknowledged that
the ‘quality of water could be degraded by accidental” fracking spills. (Doc. 29 at
2.) BLM plucks one line out of the district court’s order and portrays it as the
entirety of the district court’s analysis. In fact, the district court in Citizens for a
Healthy Community relied on an extensive and thorough hard look that BLM
undertook.
The plaintiffs raised concerns about “threats to resources and human health
from modern oil and gas drilling techniques.” Citizens for a Healthy Community,
377 F. Supp. 3d at 1241. The district court catalogued the thorough analysis
undertaken by BLM. Id., at 1241-42. BLM acknowledged that hydraulic fracturing
spills degrade water quality. Id. BLM relied on studies about the health impacts of
hydraulic fracturing and it “modeled the estimated maximum impacts that could
occur from . . . emissions” and found that “health and quality of life related to air
quality are not likely to be significantly impacted.” Id. at 1242. BLM also
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“modeled expected cancer risk from suspected carcinogens.” Id. These items
formed a small part of BLM’s robust analysis in Citizens for a Healthy Community
of the potential threats to resources and human health. Id. at 1241-42. BLM
provided little or no analysis here about the impacts on groundwater from the
leases compared to the thorough and responsive analysis provided in Citizens for a
Health Community.
BLM alternatively argues that it may defer any parcel-specific analysis to
the APD stage even if it has failed to provide specific responses to Wildearth’s
concerns. The Ninth Circuit for decades has held that NEPA requires at least some
“site specific analysis” at the leasing stage, when this stage represents an
“irretrievable commitment of resources.” Kempthorne, 457 F.3d at 975-76; see
Conner v. Burford, 848 F.2d 1441, 1450-51 (9th Cir. 1988). BLM’s “inability to
fully ascertain the precise extent of the effects of mineral leasing” at the leasing
stage cannot justify a failure to consider those effects at this stage. Conner, 848
F.2d at 1450.
The Ninth Circuit has not necessarily required, however, a parcel-by-parcel
analysis. See Kempthorne, 457 F.3d at 976. The Ninth Circuit based this decision
on the inherent problem created by NEPA’s impacts analysis requirement when
applied to BLM’s multi-stage oil and gas leasing projects. BLM has no guarantee
at the leasing stage of what, if any, projects may materialize for that parcel. See id.
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For that reason, the Ninth Circuit has upheld BLM leasing decisions where BLM
did not conduct a parcel-by-parcel review for impacts, but instead considered
“hypothetical situations that represented the spectrum of foreseeable results.” Id.
The Court now faces the question of whether BLM has undertaken a review of
groundwater impacts that proves specific enough for these lease sales, not whether
BLM must undertake a parcel-by-parcel review for groundwater impacts.
This question proves complicated by another inherent problem with NEPA
analysis at the leasing stage: BLM’s ability to assess impacts at the leasing stage
may vary greatly depending on the impact that it considers. Some impacts, like
impacts of oil and gas leasing on wetlands, will vary greatly depending on the
location of a well within a specific parcel. See Ctr. for Biological Diversity v.
BLM, No. 17-cv-553, 2019 WL 236727, at *10 (D. Nev. Jan. 15, 2019). BLM
possesses limited ability to predict where wells will be drilled in a parcel with the
precision needed to determine wetlands impacts. As a result, BLM’s analysis may
be relatively general at the leasing stage, but still may comply with NEPA. See id.
Some impacts do not depend on placement within a parcel though and courts
have required more specific analyses of these impacts at the leasing stage. For
example, courts have required BLM to provide relatively specific estimates
regarding potential greenhouse gas emissions at the leasing stage. See Wildearth
Guardians v. Zinke, 368 F. Supp. 3d 41, 67-68 (D.D.C. 2019). Similarly, courts
14

have required a more specific analysis at the leasing stage when addressing the
issue of potential water usage. See San Juan Citizens All. v. BLM, 326 F. Supp. 3d
1227, 1254 (D.N.M. 2018). The district court in San Juan Citizens Alliance
determined that BLM possessed “sufficient information” at the leasing stage “to
make estimates of potential water usage for different methods of hydraulic
fracturing.” Id. The district court required BLM to perform this analysis even
though “estimates of the impact of the action on water quality will become even
more precise” at the permitting stage. Id. These decisions lead to the conclusion
that the Court must analyze whether BLM undertook an analysis sufficiently
specific for the leasing stage based on the unique characteristics of the impact at
issue.
A comparison of BLM’s analysis of groundwater impacts from shallow
fracturing and surface casing depths and the factual record shows that BLM
improperly deferred its analysis to the APD stage. BLM provides almost no
analysis related to shallow fracturing and surface casing depth. The factual record,
on the other hand, shows that BLM possessed the information necessary to
undertake a more specific analysis at the leasing stage than it did. Wildearth
correctly argues that BLM had access to records showing “aquifier depth and
quality in the areas where the leases are located” and “records of existing wells
drilled in the area.” (Doc. 30 at 13.) The record also includes “an EPA study
15

identifying where shallow fracturing is most likely to occur in Montana.” (Id.) This
information alone would allow BLM to forecast any potential impacts to
groundwater from surface casing depth and shallow fracturing at the leasing stage.
See San Juan Citizens All., 326 F. Supp. 3d at 1254.
The Court emphasizes that BLM’s analysis must include some sort of
forecasting on potential groundwater impacts, but it does not need to include the
type of parcel-by-parcel analysis that Wildearth seeks. BLM correctly points out
that at least some of the factors that BLM would need to assess the full impacts to
groundwater from shallow fracturing and surface casing depth depend on the
location of wells. (Doc. 31 at 11-12.) Without that information, BLM cannot, and
need not, provide the site-specific analysis that Wildearth requested to satisfy
NEPA. See Ctr. for Biological Diversity, 2019 WL 236727, at *10.
In sum, BLM failed to take a hard look at groundwater impacts due to
shallow fracturing and due to surface casing depth not extending past drinking
water. BLM has the information available to it at the leasing stage to provide some
forecast about how shallow fracturing and surface casing depth will affect
groundwater. BLM need not forecast groundwater impacts for each individual
parcel within a lease, though, and instead may satisfy NEPA’s hard-look
requirement with a forecast as specific as the information it has at the leasing stage

16

allows. The requisite level of specificity may vary depending on the characteristics
of each lease sale and the parcels in it.
II.

BLM failed to consider an alternative that would have protected
groundwater.
At the protest stage, and after BLM had issued the relevant EAs and

FONSIs, Wildearth submitted a protest, alleging that the lease sales violated NEPA
for failure to consider alternatives that “would have protected usable groundwater,
including an alternative whereby parcels would not be leased in area overlying
usable groundwater, and an alternative that includes other measures to ensure that
all usable groundwater zones are protected.” BLM-MT-BI-004774. Among those
“other measures,” Wildearth suggested an alternative that required “a lease
stipulation or lease notice requiring the lessee to perform groundwater testing prior
to drilling to identify all usable water.” Id. Wildearth now argues that BLM
violated NEPA by failing to consider the alternatives suggested in its protests.
(Doc. 24-1 at 35-39.)
NEPA regulations require an agency to “[r]igorously explore and objectively
evaluate all reasonable alternatives.” 40 C.F.R. § 1502.14(a); Wild Wilderness v.
Allen, 871 F.3d 719, 728 (9th Cir. 2017). Agencies need to evaluate only
alternatives that are reasonably related to the purposes of the action. See Wild
Wilderness, 871 F.3d at 728; League of Wilderness Defs.—Blue Mountains
Biodiversity Project v. U.S. Forest Serv., 689 F.3d 1060, 1069 (9th Cir. 2012).
17

NEPA regulations do not outline a numerical requirement to satisfy the alternatives
requirement. See Native Ecosystems Council v. U.S. Forest Serv., 428 F.3d 1233,
1246 (9th Cir. 2005).
NEPA does not provide an agency with complete discretion, however, as to
how many alternatives to analyze. An agency must “briefly discuss” why it chose
to eliminate any alternative proposed, but not evaluated. 40 C.F.R. § 1502.14(a).
The existence of “a viable but unexamined alternative renders [an] environmental
impact statement inadequate.” Muckleshoot Indian Tribe v. U.S. Forest Serv., 177
F.3d 800, 814 (9th Cir. 1999) (quotation marks omitted) (quoting Citizens for a
Better Henderson v. Hodel, 768 F.2d 1051, 1057 (9th Cir. 1985)). The need to
consider alternatives stands “lessened but still extant when preparing an EA instead
of an EIS.” Wild Wilderness, 871 F.3d at 728; see 40 C.F.R. § 1508.9(b).
The parties disagree over the detail that BLM had to provide in denying
Wildearth’s protest because Wildearth did not raise this exact alternatives
argument during the NEPA process. (See Doc. 31 at 14-15.) Regardless of how
much detail BLM must provide at the protest stage, at minimum, it has to respond
to the protest with sufficient detail to explain why it has complied with NEPA. To
hold otherwise would negate much of the purpose of the protest process. Interested
parties frequently bring up NEPA violations at the protest stage. See, e.g., BLMMT-BI-004709, BLM-MT-BI-004711, BLM-MT-BI-004727-4736, BLM-MT-BI18

004764-4775, BLM-MT-BI-004778-4790, BLM-MT-BI-004852-4862. BLM bears
the responsibility to remedy a valid NEPA claim if a protest raises a valid claim.
There would be no point otherwise in a member of the public raising a NEPA
violation at the protest stage. BLM offers no reason why it could allow a NEPA
violation to go unresolved solely because the party failed to bring up the exact
NEPA violation at an earlier point. See generally W. Watersheds Project v. Zinke,
336 F. Supp. 3d 1204, 1228 (D. Idaho 2018) (discussing purpose and importance
of protest period for oil and gas lease sales).
With that in mind, BLM’s response to Wildearth’s protest failed to explain
adequately why not considering Wildearth’s alternative complied with NEPA.
BLM’s response fails to address the proposed alternatives in Wildearth’s protest.
Wildearth suggests that BLM consider both an alternative “whereby parcels would
not be leased in areas overlying usable groundwater” and alternatives that imposed
lease stipulations about groundwater testing and specific casing and cementing
depths. BLM-MT-BI-004774. BLM responded to Wildearth’s proposed alternative
by stating summarily that because “these parcels have stringent resources
protections for all relevant resources (NSO, CSU), there was no need to analyze an
alternative excluding such parcels.” BLM-MT-BI-004775.
BLM did not claim at the time, or in its briefing, that Wildearth’s alternative
was unreasonable or infeasible. BLM claims instead that its response and the
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remainder of its alternative analysis proved enough. (Doc. 29 at 34-37.) BLM did
not consider Wildearth’s proposal and makes no effort to claim that the proposal
was unreasonable or infeasible. The Court must consider, therefore, only whether
BLM provided an appropriate explanation for not considering Wildearth’s
proposed alternative. 40 C.F.R. § 1502.14(a); see Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, 177
F.3d at 814.
BLM has a lesser obligation to consider alternatives for an EAs than for an
EIS. Native Ecoystems, 428 F.3d at 1246. The Court takes no issue with the
amount of detail that BLM provided here in response to Wildearth’s proposed
alternative. See id. The Court instead takes issue with the substance of BLM’s
response and finds its lacking. BLM’s response tells Wildearth nothing about why
a no-surface occupancy stipulation or a controlled surface use stipulation serve as
adequate stand-ins for the stipulations that Wildearth proposes. BLM did not start
from a blank slate when it received Wildearth’s proposed alternative at the protest
stage in light of the other comments that BLM had fielded during the NEPA
process about groundwater and failure to address reasonable alternatives. BLM
cannot satisfy NEPA without some explanation beyond the conclusory one that it
provided to Wildearth.
Other courts have determined that agencies had failed to satisfy NEPA’s
alternatives requirement where the agency provided an inadequate explanation for
20

not considering the proposed alternative. The Ninth Circuit rejected the Forest
Service’s alternatives analysis for this reason in Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, 177
F.3d at 813. The EIS there considered only a no-action alternative along with two
virtually identical alternatives. The Ninth Circuit noted that “nothing in the record”
supported the Forest Service’s reason for failing to consider other alternatives. The
district court in Colo. Envtl. Coal. v. Salazar, 875 F. Supp. 2d 1233, 1248–50 (D.
Colo. 2012), similarly determined that BLM had failed to satisfy NEPA’s
alternatives requirement because BLM’s response to a proposed alternative “never
consist[ed] of more than a statement that it did not specifically consider” the
alternative.
Even when the Ninth Circuit has upheld an agency’s decision to consider
only two alternatives, it did so only “[s]o long as ‘all reasonable alternatives’ have
been considered and an appropriate explanation is provided as to why” the agency
did not consider any proposed alternatives. Native Ecosystems, 428 F.3d at 1246
(emphasis added); see Envtl. Prot. Info. Ctr. v. U.S. Forest Serv., 451 F.3d 1005,
1016 (9th Cir. 2006) (holding that agency adequately considered alternatives
because explanations for eliminating alternatives “were not arbitrary or
capricious”). BLM relies on Native Ecosystems and Environmental Protection to
claim that it needed to consider only two alternatives. (Doc. 31 at 13-14.) Both
cases explicitly state, however, that agencies must provide explanations for why it
21

did not consider any eliminated alternative. See Native Ecosystems, 428 F.3d at
1246 (noting that an agency satisfies the regulatory requirement when “an
appropriate explanation is provided as to why an alternative was eliminated”);
Envtl. Prot. Info. Ctr., 451 F.3d at 1016 (noting that agency’s explanations for
eliminating proposed alternatives “were not arbitrary or capricious”). BLM failed
to provide any “appropriate explanation” for failing to consider Wildearth’s
proposed alternative. Native Ecosystems, 428 F.3d at 1246. These considerations
and the reasoning in the cited cases lead the Court to conclude that BLM failed to
provide an adequate explanation of why it failed to consider Wildearth’s proposed
alternative. See id.
III.

BLM failed to consider cumulative climate impacts.
All parties have moved for summary judgment on the issue of whether the

challenged EAs satisfy NEPA’s cumulative impacts requirement. NEPA requires
that an agency consider the incremental impact of each leasing decision that is
“added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions regardless
of what agency (Federal or non-Federal) or person undertakes such other actions.”
40 C.F.R. § 1508.7. “Cumulative impacts can result from individually minor but
collectively significant actions taking place over a period of time.” Id.
“In a cumulative impact analysis, an agency must take a “hard look” at all
actions.” Te-Moak Tribe of W. Shoshone of Nev. v. U.S. Dep’t of Interior, 608 F.3d
22

592, 603 (9th Cir. 2010). An agency cannot satisfy this requirement under NEPA
with “[g]eneral statements about ‘possible effects’ and ‘some risk’” unless the
agency provides “a justification regarding why more definitive information could
not be provided.” Ocean Advocates v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng’rs, 402 F.3d 846,
868 (9th Cir. 2005) (quoting Neighbors of Cuddy Mountain v. U.S. Forest Serv.,
137 F.3d 1372, 1379-80 (9th Cir. 1998)).
NEPA requires that the environmental consequences should be considered
together when several projects that may have cumulative environmental impacts
are pending concurrently. Kleppe, 427 U.S. at 410. NEPA also requires that
agencies do more than merely catalogue relevant projects in the area. Great Basin
Mine Watch v. Hankins, 456 F.3d 955, 971 (9th Cir. 2006). An agency instead
must give sufficiently detailed analysis about these projects and the differences
between them. Id. The agency must provide sufficient detail in its analysis such
that the analysis will assist the “decisionmaker in deciding whether, or how, to
alter the program to lessen cumulative environmental impacts.” Churchill Cty. v.
Norton, 276 F.3d 1060, 1080 (9th Cir. 2001) (quoting City of Carmel-by-the-Sea v.
U.S. Dept’ of Transp., 123 F.3d 1142, 1160 (9th Cir. 1997)).
The district court in Helena Hunter & Anglers concluded that the Forest
Service violated NEPA when it failed to catalogue one of its own road projects to
be built in the same area as the challenged project in its cumulative impacts section
23

of the EA. 841 F. Supp. 2d 1129, 1138 (D. Mont. 2009). The Ninth Circuit in
Lands Council v. Powell, 395 F.3d 1019, 1028 (9th Cir. 2005), also faulted an
agency for failing to catalogue other agency projects in its environmental
assessments and impact statements. The court reasoned that the agency violated
NEPA when it failed to “set forth in sufficient detail” a “description of past timber
harvests and previous environmental harms caused by these past timber harvests.”
Id. The Ninth Circuit in Klamath-Siskiyou noted that BLM failed to comply with
NEPA where it discussed other projects, but offered “no quantified assessment of
their combined environmental impacts.” 387 F.3d at 994. In other words, the Ninth
Circuit consistently has required a catalogue of other past, present, and reasonably
foreseeable projects and analysis of that catalogue and “their combined
environmental impacts.” Id.
BLM provided no catalogue here and little analysis to show the combined
environmental impacts. As Wildearth points out, the individual EAs for Butte,
Billings, and HiLine include no discussion of each other, even though all three EAs
covered land sold in the same lease sale. Further, the Miles City lease sale contains
no discussion of the environmental impacts from the other three EAs. These
omissions violate the Ninth Circuits mandate to “give a sufficiently detailed
catalogue of past, present, and future projects, and provide adequate analysis about
how these projects, and difference between the projects, are thought to have
24

impacted the environment.” Great Basin Mine Watch, 456 F.3d at 971-72; see
Helena Hunter, 841 F. Supp. 2d at 1138; Lands Council, 395 F.3d at 1028.
Rather than refute that it failed to catalogue other projects, BLM offers a
number of rationales for why the analysis that it provided satisfies NEPA’s
cumulative impacts requirement. To start, BLM claims that compliance with the
regulation would be “impossible.” (Doc. 29 at 27 n.6.) BLM states that the
regulation “does not distinguish between BLM projects and other sources of GHG
emissions” and BLM cannot “individually assess the incremental contributions of
each individual source of GHG emissions.” (Id.) Even if the regulation required the
type of assessment that BLM claims, any impossibility would stem from
cataloguing GHG emissions from non-Federal entities or people, not from
cataloguing emissions from Federal Government projects. BLM failed even to
catalogue the Federal Government projects, and thus its impossibility argument
also fails. BLM further undercuts its own argument when it notes elsewhere in its
cumulative impacts analysis that agencies may “characterize the cumulative effects
of past actions in the aggregate without enumerating every past project that has
affected an area.” (Doc. 31 at 6 (quoting Ctr. for Envtl. Law & Policy v. BLM, 655
F.3d 1000, 1007 (9th Cir. 2011)).)
BLM also relies on its quantification of greenhouse-gas emissions as support
for complying with NEPA’s cumulative impacts requirement. BLM spends more
25

than six pages describing the process that it used to quantify estimated greenhousegas emissions for each lease sale. (See Doc. 29 at 9-15 and Doc. 31 at 2.) This
information was thorough and necessary for BLM to comply with NEPA, but none
of it speaks to whether BLM considered cumulative climate impacts.
BLM further claims that it satisfied NEPA’s cumulative impacts requirement
because it tiered the EAs to the relevant RMPs. (Doc. 29 at 28; Doc. 31 at 2-3.)
This argument fails for at least for two independent reasons. First, the relevant
RMPs considered only “estimated GHG emissions for BLM-authorized activities
in the planning areas.” BLM-MT-BI-002397 (emphasis added); see BLM-MTMC-001163 (noting that the RMP’s cumulative impacts analysis only considered
“[a]ctions anticipated . . . in the planning area”). Thus, the RMP for the Billings
planning area fails to consider impacts from the Wyoming planning area, even
though BLM must consider the Wyoming lease sale in its cumulative impacts
analysis to comply with NEPA.
BLM’s tiering argument also fails because the RMPs predate the lease sales
by more than two years. See, e.g., BLM-MT-BI-002281. The cumulative impact
regulations require a catalogue of past, present, and reasonably foreseeable projects
at the time of the least sale, not two years ago. BLM has the benefit of two years’
worth of information that it did not have at the RPM stage about what constitutes
past, present, and reasonably foreseeable projects. BLM’s tiering argument might
26

carry some weight if one of the RMP alternatives proved to be the exact scenario
that developed over the last two years. It would fail even then, however, as it fails
to account for actions outside the planning area for that specific RMP. See
Klamath-Siskiyou, 387 F.3d at 994.
In arguing that tiering to the RMPs satisfies NEPA’s cumulative impacts
analysis, BLM notes, as it often does, that NEPA regulations “encourage[]” tiering.
(Doc. 29 at 29; Doc. 31 at 3.) The Court agrees. To encourage tiering, however,
hardly means that tiering alone proves sufficient to satisfy NEPA’s various
requirements. NEPA regulations encourage tiering “to eliminate repetitive
discussions of the same issues” in different levels of environmental review. 40
C.F.R. § 1502.20. BLM instead has used tiering as a means to avoid discussions of
the same general topic, even when no risk of repetition exists.
Further, BLM cannot, as it claims, satisfy NEPA’s cumulative impacts
analysis simply because it put the emissions from a single lease sale into context
with state and national greenhouse-gas emissions. (See Doc. 31 at 6-9.) BLM
claims that “climate change, and the GHG emissions that contribute to it, are
global and cumulative in scale.” (Id. at 8.) BLM contends that the global nature of
climate change prevents it from assessing “the specific effects of GHG emissions
from any particular lease sale either on any particular region or on the planet as a
whole.” And thus, according to BLM, “both the decision-makers and the public are
27

better served by a cumulative effects analysis . . . that relate a particular project’s
direct and indirect GHG emissions” to state and national emissions. (Id. at 8-9.)
Climate change certainly poses unique challenges in the cumulative impact
analysis. BLM’s argument nonetheless fails for a number of reasons to persuade
this Court that it has satisfied NEPA. To start, these unique challenges do not
obviate the need to follow Ninth Circuit case law. This case law requires a
catalogue of past, present, and reasonably foreseeable projects. See Great Basin
Mine Watch, 456 F.3d at 971-72. Further, even though BLM cannot ascertain
exactly how all of these projects contribute to climate change impacts felt in the
project area, it knows that less greenhouse-gas emissions equals less climate
change. See BLM-MT-BI-000051, BLM-MT-BU-000045, BLM-MT-HI-000039,
BLM-MT-MC-002493 (acknowledging that increase of global concentrations of
GHGs contribute to climate change and that oil and gas development cause GHG
emissions).
Third, the large-scale nature of environmental issues like climate change
show why cumulative impacts analysis proves vital to the overall NEPA analysis.
The cumulative impacts analysis was designed precisely to determine whether “a
small amount here, a small amount there, and still more at another point could add
up to something with a much greater impact.” Klamath-Siskiyou, 387 F.3d at 994.
The global nature of climate change and greenhouse-gas emissions means that any
28

single lease sale or BLM project likely will make up a negligible percent of state
and nation-wide greenhouse gas emissions. See Ctr. for Biological Diversity, 538
F.3d at 1217. Thus, if BLM ever hopes to determine the true impact of its projects
on climate change, it can do so only by looking at projects in combination with
each other, not simply in the context of state and nation-wide emissions. See id.
Without doing so, the relevant “decisionmaker” cannot determine “whether, or
how, to alter the program to lessen cumulative impacts” on climate change.
Churchill Cty., 276 F.3d at 1080 (quoting City of Carmel-by-the-Sea, 123 F.3d at
1160). The global nature of climate change complicates an assessment of the exact
climate change impacts from the lease sales. This complication does not preclude
BLM from complying with the Ninth Circuit’s mandate to catalogue past, present,
and reasonably foreseeable projects. See Great Basin Mine Watch, 456 F.3d at
971-72.
The cases on which BLM primarily relies do not prove contrary. (Doc. 29 at
13 (citing Wildearth Guardians v. Jewell, 738 F.3d 298 (D.C. Cir. 2013) and
Wildearth Guardians v. BLM, 8 F. Supp. 3d 17 (D.D.C. 2014)) and Doc. 30 at 3-4
(citing Citizens for a Healthy Cmty. v. BLM, No. 117-CV-02519, 2019 WL
1382785 (D. Colo. Mar. 27, 2019)). All of those cases come from out-of-circuit
courts and thus cannot compel this Court to contradict Ninth Circuit case law.
More importantly, two of the cases comport with the Ninth Circuit case law.
29

The D.C. Circuit considered in Jewell a similar issue to the one that
Wildearth raises here: whether an agency acted arbitrarily and capriciously in
failing to include eleven other pending lease applications in a challenged EIS. The
D.C. Circuit determined that the agency did not need to include the eleven projects.
Jewell, 738 F.3d at 310. The D.C. Circuit reached this conclusion, however, only
because the projects were not “reasonably foreseeable” and thus did not fall within
the requirements of § 1508.7. Id. Only four of the proposed leases had been
through the EIS process when BLM had issued the FEIS on the challenged action
in 2008. Seven of the leases had not yet passed the “scoping” phase. Id. The D.C.
Circuit rejected plaintiffs’ reliance on these eleven proposed leases at the time of
the briefing in 2011 as “hindsight.” Id. “[P]rojects in their infancy have uncertain
futures,” and, thus, it would have been unreasonable to require BLM to consider
every proposed lease from its analysis of foreseeable future actions. Id. (quoting
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation P’ship v. Salazar, 616 F.3d 497, 513 (D.C. Cir.
2010).
The district court in Wildearth Guardians v. BLM upheld the agency’s
cumulative impacts analysis where BLM analyzed the emissions from “other [area]
mines” and emissions from “other pending leases.” Wildearth Guardians, 8 F.
Supp. 3d at 35. BLM estimated the greenhouse gas emissions from the proposed
leases and put that estimate into context of state-wide emissions. Id. BLM did the
30

same here. (Doc. 29 at 13.) BLM’s cumulative impacts analysis largely ends at this
point. By contrast, BLM went much further in Wildearth Guardians. BLM
considered this quantification of greenhouse gas emissions for the proposed leases
“in combination with coal mining at other [Powder River Basin] mines and with
other pending leases.” Id. The EIS further discussed emissions and by-products of
coal combustion and estimated the CO2 emissions that would result from coal
combustion from all Powder River Basin mines for the year 2006 at 716.9 million
metric tons. This amount represented 33.6 percent of all estimated CO2 emissions
from coal combustion in the United States. Id. BLM’s analysis here falls well short
of the analysis conducted in Wildearth Guardians. These decisions fail to support
BLM’s claim that an agency complies with NEPA simply by quantifying
anticipated new emissions from the action that is the subject of the EA or EIS and
then calculating what percentage of national-level and state-level emissions that
the new emissions would comprise.
BLM must catalogue past, present, or reasonably foreseeable projects in the
EAs. See Great Basin Mine Watch, 456 F.3d at 971-72. BLM need not do the
impossible, but cases like Wildearth Guardians, 8 F. Supp. 3d at 35, show that
BLM can do much more than it did here. BLM did much of the work necessary by
quantifying GHG emissions from the parcels in the four EAs, but it never went the
next step and showed how these lease sales cumulatively affect the environment.
31

IV.

Whether BLM issued arbitrary and capricious FONSIs.
Wildearth asks this Court to set aside BLM’s FONSIs as arbitrary and
capricious and to require BLM to prepare an EIS instead of an EA for the lease
sales. The EAs prepared by BLM failed to discuss adequately the impacts on
groundwater from surface casing depth and shallow hydraulic fracturing. See supra
Section I. The EAs failed to provide an appropriate explanation for its decision to
exclude consideration of Wildearth’s proposed alternatives to the leases. See supra
Section II. The EAs also failed to address adequately the cumulative impacts of
climate change from the proposed leases. See supra Section III. All of BLM’s
FONSIs explicitly rely on these flawed EAs and contain relatively little analysis,
most of which directly tracks to the EAs. See BLM-MT-BU-000011 (stating that
FONSI was based in part on review of EA), BLM-MT-BI-000012 (same), BLMMT-HI-000006 (same), BLM-MT-MC-000005 (same). Wildearth contends that
BLM’s reliance on these EAs, which themselves were arbitrary and capricious,
also renders the FONSIs arbitrary and capricious. On this claim, they are correct.
Given the fact that this matter must be remanded for BLM to conduct a new
analysis of the proposed action on various environmental impacts, the Court deems
it unnecessary and unwise to resolve whether the lease sales require an EIS, which
BLM’s may conclude on its own is required after undertaking its new analysis.

32

V.

Remedy
Wildearth seek the following relief in their Complaint: that this Court
declare that “Defendants violated NEPA in approving the lease sales” (Doc. 1 at
33); that this Court set aside as unlawful “the decision records approving the lease
sales, the underlying EAs and FONSIs, the protest decisions, and all leases issued
pursuant to such sales” (Id.); that this Court retain “continuing jurisdiction over
this matter until Defendants remedy the violations of law” (Id. at 34); and that the
Court award to Wildearth “the costs of this action, including reasonable attorney’s
fees pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412,” (Id. at 33). In
its Opening Brief, Wildearth requests the following remedy: declaratory relief and
that this Court “set aside (1) the environmental assessments for the December 2017
and March 2018 lease sales; (2) the associated findings of no significant impact;
(3) the associated decision records; (4) the decisions to dismiss Plaintiffs’ protests
of the lease sales; (5) and the leases.” (Doc. 25-1 at 50.)
The Court reviewed BLM’s decision pursuant to the APA, under which the
Court may “set aside” final agency action deemed “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse
of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.” Ctr. for Biological
Diversity, 538 F.3d at 1194. Further, the Court recognizes that “[i]f the record
before the agency does not support the agency action [or] if the agency has not
considered all relevant factors,. . . the proper course, except in rare circumstances,
33

is to remand to the agency for additional investigation or explanation.” Fla. Power
& Light Co. v. Lorion, 470 U.S. 729, 744 (1985).
The Ninth Circuit remands agency actions without vacating that action only
in “limited circumstances.” Pollinator Stewardship Council v. EPA, 806 F.3d 520,
532 (9th Cir. 2015) (quoting Cal. Cmtys. Against Toxics v. EPA, 688 F.3d 989, 994
(9th Cir. 2012); see Wood v. Burwell, 837 F.3d 969, 975-76 (9th Cir. 2016)
(recognizing that remand without vacatur is a remedy “used sparingly”). When
determining whether to leave an agency action in place on remand, courts weigh
“how serious the agency's errors are” against “the disruptive consequences of an
interim change that may itself be changed.” Cal. Cmtys. Against Toxics, 688 F.3d
at 992 (quoting Allied–Signal, Inc. v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n, 988 F.2d
146, 150–51 (D.C. Cir. 1993)). When an agency likely can come to the same
conclusion on remand, the “seriousness of the agency’s errors” weighs in favor of
remand without vacatur. See Pollinator, 806 F.3d at 532.
The problems with BLM’s EAs largely relate to the absence of analysis
rather than to a flawed analysis. In other words, the Court does not fault BLM for
providing a faulty analysis of cumulative impacts or impacts to groundwater, it
largely faults BLM for failing to provide any analysis. Given that absence of
analysis, the Court cannot determine whether there exists “a serious possibility that
the [agency would] be able to substantiate its decision on remand.” Allied-Signal,
34

988 F.2d at 151. The Court instead will follow the normal procedure in the Ninth
Circuit and vacate the agency’s decisions and remand for investigation and
analysis consistent with this order. See Pollinator, 806 F.3d at 532.
Accordingly, in this case the Court concludes that the proper remedy is to
vacate BLM's finding of no significant impact and its issuance of the leases and to
remand to BLM for further analysis and action consistent with this opinion.
ORDER
For the reasons stated herein, the Court grants the following relief requested
by Wildearth in its Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (Doc. 1):
The Court VACATES the findings of no significant impact;
The Court VACATES the leases; and
The Court REMANDS this matter to BLM for further analysis, consistent
with the Court's discussion above, of the environmental impacts of the decision to
grant the leases at issue.
DATED this 1st day of May, 2020.

35