Court nixes oil and gas leases for deficient climate review: “A federal court rebuked the Bureau of Land Management yesterday for failing to consider certain climate impacts of oil and gas development on public lands in New Mexico. The U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico ruled that BLM violated federal law when it approved leasing in the Santa Fe National Forest without considering the greenhouse gas emissions associated with burning the oil and gas that would be produced there. The ruling is the latest in a string of decisions that have ordered the government to conduct additional climate review for fossil fuel development on public lands. The legal developments are in tension with many Trump administration efforts to limit climate analysis and streamline environmental reviews. At issue in this case is BLM's 2015 approval of 13 leases covering some 20,000 acres in northwestern New Mexico. A coalition of environmental groups including the San Juan Citizens Alliance, WildEarth Guardians and the Sierra Club filed suit the following year, alleging that the government fell short in its review of climate issues and potential impacts from hydraulic fracturing. Senior Judge M. Christina Armijo, a George W. Bush appointee, sided with the groups on several claims yesterday, ruling that BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it issued the leases. Though BLM's analysis included discussion of the general impacts of climate change, it did not measure the downstream greenhouse gas emissions associated with eventually burning the oil and gas produced on the federal leases. Armijo said she agreed with the reasoning of several other courts, including the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, that have found that fossil fuel combustion is a clear result of production and therefore must be analyzed under NEPA… Environmental groups were thrilled by the court's decision. Western Environmental Law Center attorney Kyle Tisdel, who represented the environmental coalition, said it was an important recognition of the government's obligation to consider broad climate impacts at the oil and gas leasing stage. It adds to a growing body of case law, he said, and might help spur additional wins in other lawsuits, including pending litigation at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that targets oil and gas development on public lands in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado.  As for spurring BLM to routinely conduct the additional climate analysis on its own, Tisdel said he remained skeptical. "Who knows with BLM," he told E&E News. "There's certainly a pattern of them ignoring precedent when it comes to rubber-stamping fossil fuel development, and in light of this administration, I wouldn't put anything past the agency.”

[E&E News, 6/15/18] https://goo.gl/RFW189

Trump Picks Veteran Capitol Hill Lawyer to Head White House’s Environmental Council: “President Donald Trump intends to nominate former Capitol Hill staff lawyer Mary Neumayr to head a White House council that coordinates energy and environmental policy across the administration. Neumayr, whose name Trump announced Tuesday night to lead the Council on Environmental Quality, has the backing of conservative leaders and key Senate Republicans. Supporters see her as a key player in implementing sweeping reforms to environmental laws holding back economic growth. “Mary is a strong conservative with all the expertise and experience necessary to implement President Trump’s ambitious agenda to reform National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) permitting,” Myron Ebell, a former Trump transition team leader, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “I congratulate her on her nomination, and look forward to her confirmation,” Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said in a statement to E&E News, which first reported Neumayr’s nomination Tuesday. Neumayr has served as chief of staff on the Council on Environmental Quality since March 2017. She previously was senior counsel for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce from 2011 to 2017. Before that, Neumayr was a lawyer at the Energy Department and Justice Department. Neumayr might prove more palatable for pro-ethanol GOP lawmakers, and could get backing from moderate Democrats. Ebell said her expertise in streamlining infrastructure permitting makes her a good candidate. “The NEPA permitting process is being used by federal bureaucrats and environmental pressure groups to delay resource and development projects to death,” Ebell said. “Many major projects can now be stuck in red tape and then litigation for 10 or 15 years. Investors give up and move their projects to other countries where environmental permitting typically takes two to five years.” Trump’s $1.5-trillion infrastructure plan includes sweeping changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, including a “one agency, one decision” policy to keep needless bureaucracy from bogging down major projects. “Fixing the broken NEPA process is a big challenge, and Mary Neumayr is a good choice to take it on,” said Ebell, director of energy and climate policy at the free market Competitive Enterprise Institute.”

[The Daily Signal, 6/14/18] https://goo.gl/PQb9Pr

Justin McCarthy

Digital Director, NEPA Campaign

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