Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris halted a slew of coal leases in the so-called Powder River Basin (PRB) district of southern Montana and north-central Wyoming. See Western Org. of Resource Councils v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management, 2018 WL 1456624 (D. Mont.2018). PRB coal, for those in the know, is synonymous with […]
Read moreSocial Cost of Carbon: Friend to Federal Energy Projects?
Jamison Colburn BLM, climate change, coal, oil BLM, Forest Service, mineral leasing act, risk, social cost of carbon
In a starchy article in The Electricity Journal earlier this year, researchers from the University of Wyoming argued that “parties should be prepared to offer substantive comments on the suitability and accuracy of quantitative analyses of the impacts associated with greenhouse gas emissions” from energy development projects on federal land as a result of the […]
Read moreThe Ninth Circuit Gets Serious About Data
In a case that is sure to garner wider attention eventually, the Ninth Circuit just reversed the district court’s summary judgment for the defendants in Oregon Natural Desert Ass’n v. Jewell, No. 13-36078 (9th Cir. 2016). The issue was simple: in deciding that the impacts of a new transmission corridor would be acceptable (or minimal) […]
Read moreMust BLM Count Livestock Emissions in its NEPA Documents?
Jamison Colburn action agencies, BLM, uncategorized BLM, climate change, livestock GHG emissions, risk
A recent “complaint” served on the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) by the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) argues that the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) been shirking its NEPA duties on climate change issues. Is there any merit to the complaint? Unlike the parallel “petition” PEER served on BLM asking that BLM reform […]
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