Opinion
Case No. 08-cv-1460-AP.
September 29, 2008
ORDER
This administrative appeal is before me on Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Request for Expedited Consideration (Doc. 15). As an administrative appeal, the case would ordinarily be kept on the Court's "AP" docket, which I oversee, until fully briefed, at which point it would be drawn to a different judge for a determination on the merits. The Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed today, however, asserts ongoing irreparable injury unless Defendants are enjoined from issuing Roan Plateau Planning Area oil and gas leases or approvals authorizing activities under those leases during the pendency of the underlying administrative appeal. Plaintiffs' request for expedited briefing, moreover, asks that briefing and a determination on the merits of the preliminary injunction request occur before October 25, 2008, a date which is 60 days after the date payment for the leases was made by intervenor Vantage.
It is clear to me that the Motion for Preliminary Injunction and the overall merits of the appeal are intertwined, so that any resolution of the former by me as part of my AP docket duties could be a serious intrusion into the authority of the judge ultimately drawn to oversee the latter. Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court forthwith draw this case to a district judge without waiting for the briefing on the merits of the administrative appeal to be concluded.