EIR EIS envr impact

<div>belated maybe but
</div><div>this is rally about the rule of law and regulation</div><div>gop trump want to waive due process for environments, courts keep telling them they can't</div><div>s
</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/05/03/keystone-xl-future-pipeline-permits" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/05/03/keystone-xl-future-pipeline-permits</font></a></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-b98c60a2-7fff-8dc6-0390-f503769f6dc7" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>On April 15, Judge Brian Morris <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/morris-kxl-army-corps-summary-judgment-order.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">nullified</a> water-crossing permits in Montana that were granted for the Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span>, a major setback for the long-embattled tar sands oil pipeline. The ruling came just days after Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> owner <span class="caps">TC</span> Energy, formerly known as TransCanada, obtained <a href="https://therealnews.com/columns/climate-crisis-covid-19-cancels-cop26-kxl-construction-trump-big-oil-huddle" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">billions of dollars in subsidies</a> from the Alberta government as global oil prices plummeted.</b></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The oil and gas industry has taken notice. Seemingly just a ruling on Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> — the subject of opposition by the climate movement for the past decade — the ruling could have far broader implications for the future of building water-crossing pipelines and utility lines.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In his decision, Judge Morris cited a potential violation of the Endangered Species Act when he ordered the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Army Corps of Engineers to do a deeper analysis of potential impacts to protected species.</b> Morris required the Corps to demonstrate whether or not it could construct the pipeline without harming endangered species, such as the Pallid Sturgeon or the American burying beetle. Instead, the Army Corps “failed to consider relevant expert analysis and failed to articulate a rational connection between the facts it found and the choice it made,” Morris ruled, when the Corps gave Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> the initial green light.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/kxl-complaint-20190701.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">original July 2019 complaint </a>in that case — filed by Northern Plains Resource Council, Bold Alliance, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Center for Biological Diversity — also argued that the Army Corps had violated the National Environmental Policy Act (<span class="caps">NEPA</span>) in using an obscure regulatory lever to fast-track the review process.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Known as <a href="https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Regulatory-Program-and-Permits/Nationwide-Permits/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Nationwide Permit 12</a>, the permit only requires a short environmental analysis compared to the more robust environmental impact statement required under <span class="caps">NEPA</span> for other major infrastructure projects</b>. But Morris also wrote that the decision applied not just to Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span>, but to all major federal projects aiming to utilize Nationwide Permit 12, calling for it to be “vacated pending completion of the consultation process and compliance with all environmental statutes and regulations.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Just two days after this decision, Army Corps regulatory program Chief Jennifer Moyer wrote in an email obtained by the Associated Press that the agency should suspend the program indefinitely “out of an abundance of caution” until the issue is resolved legally. </b></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Trump administration has already <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/DOJ%20Motion%20for%20Stay%20Pending%20Appeal_0.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">requested a procedural halt</a> on implementing Morris’ decision until its potential appeal weaves its way through the legal system.</b></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>The Court has eliminated Nationwide Permit 12 for use by any utility line project anywhere in the country, which has extraordinary and immediate implications for numerous projects,” <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/DOJ%20Motion%20for%20Stay%20Pending%20Appeal_0.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Department of Justice attorneys wrote</a> on behalf of the Army Corps.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/american-petroleum-institute" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">American Petroleum Institute</a> (<span class="caps">API</span>), the lobbying and advocacy voice of the oil and gas industry, has also filed an affidavit in favor of putting a procedural halt to Morris’ ruling. </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>The ability to provide reliable energy is even more important now during this sensitive and challenging time brought on by <span class="caps">COVID</span>-19,” Robin Rorick, Vice President of Midstream and Industry Operations for <span class="caps">API</span>, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/API%20Affidavit%20Robin%20Rorick.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">wrote in the affidavit</a>. “The Court’s Order could threaten <span class="caps">API</span>’s members’ ability to continue numerous energy and infrastructure projects, affecting the health of numerous companies and job security in an already-strained economy.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span class="caps">API</span> <a href="https://www.api.org/news-policy-and-issues/news/2020/04/17/labor-industry-respond-to-montana-district-court-decision-on-usace-nationwide-pe" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">also joined</a> North America’s Building Trades Unions and Interstate Natural Gas Association of America in denouncing the ruling along similar lines</b>.</font></p><h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">'Single and Complete'</font></h3><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nationwide Permit 12 historically was used for small “<a href="https://www.nao.usace.army.mil/Portals/31/docs/regulatory/NationwidePermits/Nationwide_Permit_12.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">single and complete</a>” projects crossing water parcels half an acre in size or smaller. </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But in the aftermath of protests and civil disobedience actions taken against Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span>, the Obama administration began using that permitting process to split pipelines into <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2013/11/22/US-court-denies-halt-pipeline-set-replace-keystone-xl-northern-half" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">hundreds or thousands</a> of half-acre pieces. The process was a way around the more robust and democratic National Environmental Policy Act (<span class="caps">NEPA</span>) regulatory process, which involves both a public commenting and public hearing phase. Nationwide Permit 12 was also <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/09/08/dakota-access-pipeline-big-oil-nationwide-permit-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">used to push through</a> the Dakota Access pipeline, as well as the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2013/10/13/us-court-keystone-xl-profits-more-important-than-environment" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">southern leg</a> of the Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span>, both greenlighted by President Barack Obama.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the Obama era, environmental groups decried this as a form of “<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2016/08/02/comment-period-closes-diverse-voices-call-overhaul-fast-track-pipeline-approval" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">segmentation</a>” and a way out of complying with <span class="caps">NEPA</span>, which they routinely challeneged in court <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2014/06/25/recent-federal-court-decision-could-muddy-waters-keystone-xl-south-flanagan-south" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">with some success</a>—though not enough to undo the legal lever. The bedrock environmental law is now under further attack by President <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/donald-trump" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Donald Trump</a>, with the administration trying to remove climate change contribution as a factor analyzed under the law for major projects and aiming to narrow the scope of and time it takes to complete these environmental impact reviews. </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[vid]</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Since March 2017, the Trump administration has utilized Nationwide Permit 12 over <a href="https://apnews.com/3fb59f0666144ddf4dce0d6d0514d407" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">37,000 times</a>, the <span class="caps">AP</span> reported. As it stands today, the Army Corps’ decision to halt use of the Nationwide Permit 12 fast-track tool has put 360 permit applications on hold. </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>The reason that matters is that the public and the communities and everybody that lives there has the chance to get involved in the process,” Eric Huber, Senior Managing Attorney with the Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program, told DeSmog. “Otherwise, these special permits just allow a pipeline company to go out and start construction without notice to anybody or to take private property and just proceed and blast this through regardless of how the local community thinks of it.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>External corporate attorneys, too, have taken notice and expressed their own concerns about the ruling.</b></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>The decision puts in limbo thousands of infrastructure projects nationwide that rely on [Nationwide Permit] 12 for the construction, maintenance, or repair of utility lines and poses particularly acute problems for the oil and gas industry, which relies on the permit to facilitate projects ranging from large interstate pipelines to smaller gathering lines at exploration and production sites,” wrote attorneys from<b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/04/03/firm-that-once-employed-trumps-pick-run-interior-is-making-millions-lobbying-it/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">firm with close ties</a> to the Trump administration, in <a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/district-court-ruling-on-keystone-xl-27542/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">one such reaction to the ruling</a>.</span></b></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck’s fossil fuel industry lobbying <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/firms/summary?cycle=2020&id=D000000724&t0-search=oil" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">clients</a> include the American Petroleum Institute, American Public Power Association, Freeport <span class="caps">LNG</span>, Talos Energy, Jordan Cove <span class="caps">LNG</span>, <span class="caps">WPX</span> Energy, and the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association.</b></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another firm heavily involved in fossil fuel industry litigation and lobbying,<b> Steptoe <span class="amp">&</span> Johnson</b>, also weighed in on the ruling and <a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/new-montana-district-court-ruling-could-59518/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">wrote</a> that it could have the impact of “extending permitting time frames for these types of projects” going forward. The firm’s fossil fuel industry lobbying <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/firms/summary?cycle=2020&id=D000022267&t0-search=coal" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">clients</a> include American Gas Association, Gas Technology Institute, and Peabody Energy.</font></p><h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Permian Highway Pipeline in Texas</font></h3><p style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The legal precedent set in the Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> case is already playing out in federal courts.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>On April 30, the Sierra Club filed a <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Sierra%20Club%20v%20Army%20Corps%20of%20Engineers.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">lawsuit</a> </b>in the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> District Court for the Western District of Texas<span style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal;"> </span>against the Army Corps of Engineers over another controversial pipeline. The complaint says the Army Corps did not comply with <span class="caps">NEPA</span> in issuing a Nationwide Permit 12 to the 428-mile <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/101719-kinder-morgan-pushes-back-permian-highway-gas-pipe-in-service-date-blames-permitting" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Permian Highway gas pipeline</a>. It also argues the agency is not currently in compliance with the order in the Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> case because it has continued to allow pipeline construction under the contested Nationwide Permit 12 program.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It is outrageous that the Corps approved this project without public notice or opportunity to comment on their permits,” Rebecca McCreary, a Sierra Club attorney, <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2020/04/sierra-club-lawsuit-challenges-construction-permian-highway-fracked-gas" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">said of the Permian Highway pipeline in a press release</a>.  “Nationwide Permit 12 allows for no public hearings or participation by the local communities before the Corps permits construction to start, nor is there public notice or comment on the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Fish and Wildlife Service permits allowing harm to the endangered species along the route. The Corps should stop this project immediately.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Owned by Kinder Morgan, Permian Highway is a pipeline slated to carry gas obtained via <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-the-future/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”)</a> in Texas’ Permian Basin east across the state.</b> Kinder Morgan told DeSmog it was aware of the lawsuit, but declined to comment on it and the broader Nationwide Permit 12 issue.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Permian Highway has already seen issues with spills into water systems, with <a href="https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/sierra-club-brown-water-blanco-permian-highway-pipeline/269-d01ebb5c-778a-42af-b24e-e40f7ef00020" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px;">one late March</a> incident <a href="https://www.statesman.com/news/20200408/records-pipeline-company-spilled-36000-gallons-of-drilling-fluid-in-hill-country" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">spilling 36,000 gallons</a> of drilling slurry — including a carcinogenic additive — into groundwater. </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[twt]</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Responding, the Hays County Commissioners Court <a href="https://hayscountytx.com/2020/04/22/commissioners-court-votes-to-rescind-road-permits-for-permian-highway-pipeline/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">voted</a> on April 22 to rescind road permits given by the Texas county to allow Kinder Morgan to drill underneath county roads as it builds the pipeline. And Kinder Morgan, too, has suspended construction on this portion of the pipeline as it “determines the best path forward” in the aftermath of the spill, the <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/amp/kinder-morgan-hill-country-pipeline-drill-accident-15175986.php?fbclid=IwAR2JrPNbbEmSHwogVxIZtMMe12qAdD_PQOt1tkGQxc3VZ0laSiZghFIXEjE" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">company told Houston Chronicle</a>.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The City of Austin, City of San Marcos, Hays County, Travis County, and others also <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Austin%20Lawsuit.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">filed</a> their own Endangered Species Act lawsuit in February, </b>arguing that the pipeline could threaten protected Golden Cheeked Warblers, two salamander species, and their habitats. </font></p><h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> Decision Looms</font></h3><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> case in Montana, Morris recently <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mtd.61274/gov.uscourts.mtd.61274.134.0.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">denied </a>the Army Corps a procedural stay in the case. <b><span class="caps">TC</span> Energy</b>, for its part, wants the decision <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mtd.61274/gov.uscourts.mtd.61274.137.0.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">struck down</a> as it applies both to its own pipeline and for the permitting program at large.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>If <span class="caps">TC</span> Energy does not receive authorization from the Army Corps by early July, its construction plans will be significantly impacted,” Gary Salsman, a <span class="caps">TC</span> Energy vice president for the Keystone <span class="caps">XL</span> project, <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mtd.61274/gov.uscourts.mtd.61274.137.1.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">wrote in his April 29 affidavit</a>. “Currently, <span class="caps">TC</span> Energy is evaluating potential options that would be available to it in that circumstance, each of which have significant adverse consequences.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those “potential options,” Salsman wrote, include a potential construction delay across Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska; a change in construction plans this year to avoid the waters it is currently slated to cross that are impacted by the vacating of Nationwide Permit 12; or ending construction all together. He added that if construction does not begin in 2020, it could cost the company $750 million to $1.3 billion.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Morris could make a decision on how broadly his Nationwide Permit 12 decision applies <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mtd.61274/gov.uscourts.mtd.61274.134.0.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">as soon as May 8</a>. Regardless of the outcome, Morris' next move will likely face an appeal from either side. </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</p><div class="field-label" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" display="display" inline="inline" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">TAGS: </div><div class="field-items" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" display="display" inline="inline" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/topics/permian-highway-pipeline" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Permian Highway Pipeline</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/topics/brownstein-hyatt-farber-schreck" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/6586" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Kinder Morgan</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/9356" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Army Corps of Engineers</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/643" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">American Petroleum Institute</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/666" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Sierra Club</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5857" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Keystone XL</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/18524" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Permian Basin</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/tags/oil-sands" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">oil sands</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/2632" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">tar sands</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/14049" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Nationwide Permit 12</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/topics/brian-morris" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Brian Morris</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/topics/tc-energy" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">TC Energy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5420" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">TransCanada</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/topics/trump-administration" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Trump Administration</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/3844" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Obama administration</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5869" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">National Environmental Policy Act</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5670" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Clean Water Act</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/3030" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">endangered species act</a></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17112019/oil-gas-leases-suspended-climate-impact-federal-nepa-assessment-blm-utah-colorado-wyoming">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17112019/oil-gas-leases-suspended-climate-impact-federal-nepa-assessment-blm-utah-colorado-wyoming</a></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump administration's relentless push to expand fossil fuel production on federal lands is hitting a new snag: its own refusal to consider the climate impacts of development.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The federal Bureau of Land Management's Utah office in September voluntarily suspended 130 oil and gas leases after advocacy groups sued, arguing<span id="docs-internal-guid-75a36f9f-7fff-f1b6-1608-c6ad73ae43d7" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> that BLM hadn't adequately assessed the greenhouse gas emissions associated with drilling and extraction on those leases as required by law.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The move was unusual because BLM suspended the leases on its own, without waiting for a court to rule.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Some environmental advocates say it could indicate a larger problem for the bureau. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It is potentially a BLM-wide issue," said Jayni Hein, natural resources director at the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law, which has been involved in similar litigation in other states. "It could have the effect of suspending even more leases across the West, and not just for oil and gas, for coal as well."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Officials in Utah had already pulled back several other lease sales earlier this year. In effect, BLM appears to be trying to get ahead of potential court rulings, advocates say.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">A series of court rulings have established that BLM must conduct a thorough analysis of the climate impacts of drilling before it allows development in order to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the latest ruling, a federal district court in Washington, D.C., in March <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/20/climate/wyoming-climate-change-drilling-interior.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">ordered the bureau</a> to redo its environmental analysis for a slate of leases in Wyoming to better assess climate impacts. In response, BLM suspended the Wyoming leases, as well as leases in Utah and Colorado that were included in the lawsuit but not directly addressed by the ruling. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The new Utah suspensions cover a different set of leases, including many sold last year. In letters <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6548459-Crescent-Point-Energy-US-Corp-Suspension-Letter.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">sent in September</a> to energy companies that had bought the leases, BLM said it was suspending them "based on the parallels" between the lawsuit over them and the case that resulted in the March ruling in Washington, D.C.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>All told, nearly 1 million acres may now be suspended across the West, </b>said Rebecca Fischer, an attorney with WildEarth Guardians, which filed the lawsuit in the Washington, D.C., circuit, including more than 460,000 acres covered by that lawsuit and some 300,000 acres that Utah's BLM office has suspended since the March ruling.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"> ==</font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/federal-judge-slaps-down-trumps-giveaway-to-the-coal-industry/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/federal-judge-slaps-down-trumps-giveaway-to-the-coal-industry/</a>
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</font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Th</font><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">ank

God for Team Trump’s hard-right incompetence, because it’s difficult to

imagine how much damage they could do if they weren’t stumblebums. A

federal judge has ruled that ex-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s order to

lift a moratorium on coal leases on public lands needs to go through

the environmental review process required by longstanding federal law,

even if Zinke and his replacement(s) really, really <a style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; color: #996b3d !important;" title="" href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060196337">didn’t feel like bothering with it</a>....</font></p></div><div>==
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