Citations
- 120 F. Supp. 3d 1237
Full opinion text
OPINION AND ORDER AFFIRMING AGENCY ACTIONS
' ALAN B. JOHNSON, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
This matter comes before the Court for decision upon the merits of .these three administrative appeals. The Court previously consolidated the cases for purposes of review. Case No. 12-CV-85-ABJ has been designated as the lead case. The petitioners have filed three separate opening briefs for consideration. The federal respondents (collectively identified as ‘United States' unless otherwise specifically stated) have filed a single opposition brief to the petitioners’ three opening briefs; the respondents-intervenors (collectively ‘in-terveners') have filed a single joint response to these three briefs; petitioners have filed three separate replies. All submissions will be considered in this Opinion and Order, with distinctions made between the three separate appeals as required by context and necessity for clarity. The Court has reviewed the administrative record, the parties’ written submissions, and applicable law. In these administrative appeals, review is confined to the administrative record.
Background and Facts
The three cases identified in the caption above have been consolidated for review. These cases all concern approval of issuance óf two large coal leases within the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, portions of which are located within the Thunder Basin National Grassland. The Bureau of Land Management (*BLM‘) authorized coal leases in areas identified as the North Hilight ('NH'), South Hilight ('SH'), North Porcupine' (‘NP‘), and South Porcupine CSP‘) coal lease tracts (sometimes ‘the leases'), which would expand the North Antelope Rochelle and Black Thunder mines in the Powder River Basin.
In Case No. 13-CV-42-ABJ, petitioners WildEarth Guardians (