Federal officials have dropped their appeal of a June district court ruling that nixed oil and gas leases in New Mexico’s Santa Fe National Forest. The forest’s Battleship Rock is pictured. Aaron Zhu/Wikimedia Commons
The Bureau of Land Management will no longer contest a district court ruling that the agency fell short in its climate analysis of oil and gas development on public lands in New Mexico.
The government’s motion to dismiss its appeal in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals maintains a big win for the environmental community on federal consideration of climate impacts. Senior Judge M. Christina Armijo for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico found this summer that BLM should have accounted for greenhouse gas emissions that would have been emitted from burning fossil fuels produced in the Santa Fe National Forest (Energywire, June 15).
BLM filed its appeal two months later (Energywire, Aug. 14).
Friday’s motion did not offer details on why the agency decided to withdraw its appeal. The court quickly granted the dismissal.
The 10th Circuit previously ruled that BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it found that leasing federal coal does not significantly affect the climate. The Santa Fe National Forest case would have afforded the court a chance to clarify its stance on federal analysis of downstream climate impacts.
“We’re glad that BLM withdrew their appeal, and that Judge Armijo’s well reasoned decision sets important precedent for future oil and gas leasing not only in the San Juan Basin but throughout the west,” said Kyle Tisdel, counsel for the environmental groups that challenged the leases.
BLM declined to comment.
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