ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS SUE BLM ALLEGING NEPA VIOLATIONS IN CALIFORNIA LEASES

On June 10, 2015, the non-profit organizations Center for Biological Diversity and Los Padres ForestWatch filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management challenging the BLM’s resource management plan, along with the accompanying Environmental Impact Statement, that allowed the leasing of federal lands in California for unconventional drilling purposes.

In their claims, environmental organizations contend that the BLM’s resource management plan and EIS were approved in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act for failure to: 1) identify proper alternatives to the Bakersfield plan; 2) provide a thorough analysis of the significant environmental impacts of adopting the Bakersfield plan; and 3) prepare an additional EIS regarding the new research and information that became available concerning the environmental impact of the hydraulic fracturing technique since 2014, when the resource management plan and EIS were approved.

The case remains pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, at docket number 2:15-cv-04378.

Further information is available at: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en.html

Written by Chloe Marie - Research Fellow

06/16/2015