Rule would have significant new implications for traditional multiple-use management and conservation uses of public land. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently unveiled its proposed Conservation and Landscape...more
On Wednesday, May 24, 2023, the Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee of the House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing titled “Examining the Biden Administration’s Efforts to Limit Access to Public Lands.” In...more
On April 3, 2023, the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) published a proposed rule to promote the conservation of the 245 million acres of public lands it manages. The proposal purports to advance “BLM’s mission to manage the...more
In April 2023, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published a proposed rule that would apply new “land health” standards to all BLM-managed public lands and programs. This new policy will have broad implications for federal...more
The United States Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) issued a November 15th Instruction Memorandum (“IM”) titled: Habitat Connectivity on Public Lands...more
On June 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued formal guidance describing BLM’s policy for authorizing use of federal public lands for site characterization, injection, and...more
As more states continue to adopt and consider rules for renewable energy facility decommissioning, they do so against the backdrop of the existing federal financial assurance rules implemented by the Bureau of Land Management...more
On October 1st, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in a case that could have reopened an area of Arizona located north of the Grand Canyon and south of Utah, known as the...more
A little over a month ago, on July 24, 2018, the Deputy Director for Policy and Programs of the United States Bureau of Land Management issued Instruction Memorandum No. 2018-093 (“IM 2018-093”) to all Assistant Director and...more
Late last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service withdrew two environmental policies adopted in late 2016 by the Obama administration that address mitigation for impacts to natural resources. These two policies established...more
On 24 July, 2018, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) instructed its personnel that the agency lacks authority to require monetary payments and other forms of compensatory mitigation as a condition of obtaining authorization...more
On Monday, July 24, 2018, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a memorandum prohibiting BLM from requiring “compensatory mitigation” projects, except where specifically mandated by the Federal Land Policy and Management...more
Report on the agencies’ review of programs provides a roadmap to understanding which energy policies the Trump administration will revise. Several federal agencies have now issued reports responding to Executive Order (EO)...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (“Court”) addressed in an October 23rd opinion Plaintiffs-Appellants Central Oregon LandWatch and WaterWatch of Oregon (collectively “Plaintiffs”) challenge to the United...more
Only a few existing federal environmental rules have been set aside or overturned by the new Administration, and these actions were taken by the Congress in accordance with the special procedures of the Congressional Review...more
In the previous article in this series The Future of Carbon Dioxide Injection EOR in the United States, we discussed the sources and cost of CO2 supply for enhanced oil recovery (“EOR”) in the United States and the benefits...more
The federal district court in the state of Wyoming recently enjoined the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) from regulating hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), effectively ending, at least for now, the federal government’s...more
US District Court rejects US Bureau of Land Management’s rule regarding hydraulic fracturing operations on federal and Tribal lands. On June 21, 2016, the US District Court for the District of Wyoming (District Court)...more
Generally, a failure rate of two-thirds would indicate that what you are doing isn't profitable. However, when dealing with environmental law, that clearly isn't the case. In Cascadia Wildlands v. Bureau of Land Management,...more
Last week, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published a proposed rule that could alter the landscape of future renewable energy development, particularly in the American West, home to much of the country’s prime solar and...more
In a decision that should not have come as a surprise to anyone, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday, in Conservation Northwest v. Sherman, that the Bureau of Land Management and other agencies implementing the...more
On February 4, 2013, a Ninth Circuit panel held that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), or its own mining...more