WildEarth Guardians v. Jewell: The Need for Regulations Directing Agencies to Consider the Impact of Their Decisions on Global Climate Change

Abstract

Coal mining in the Wyoming Powder River Basin is a major contributor to climate change.1 As of 2003, it was the largest source of coal in the country and was responsible for over a third of coal mining nationwide.2 Currently, the largest coal mine in the country operates within the “Wyoming portion of the Powder River Basin.”3 In WildEarth Guardians v. Jewell, environmental groups challenged the leasing of federal land for further coal mining in the Wyoming Powder River Basin.4 Specifically, the groups challenged the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) leasing decision under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).5 The environmental organizations alleged several procedural flaws in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the leases, including its failure to adequately consider the impact of the leasing decision on global climate change.6 The D.C. Circuit held that the BLM did not need to consider the project’s impacts on global climate change because the alleged impacts were too speculative.7 Thus, plaintiffs’ challenge failed on the merits because the court found that the FEIS was sufficient.8 With growing concerns about the effects of global climate change, the court’s position is dangerous and goes against NEPA’s very purpose: to ensure