Opinion
2:07-cv-00770 TLN KJN
08-16-2021
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY; DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE; and LOS PADRES FORESTWATCH, Plaintiffs, v. JENNIFER EBERLIEN, [1] Pacific Southwest Regional Forester; KEVIN ELLIOTT, Forest Supervisor, Los Padres National Forest; RANDY MOORE, [1] Chief, USDA Forest Service; and USDA Forest Service, Defendants.
PHILLIP A. TALBERT Acting United States Attorney LYNN TRINKA ERNCE Assistant United States Attorney Attorneys for Defendants CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE and LOS PADRES FORESTWATCH By: JOHN T. BUSE LISA BELENKY Attorneys for Plaintiffs
PHILLIP A. TALBERT
Acting United States Attorney
LYNN TRINKA ERNCE
Assistant United States Attorney
Attorneys for Defendants
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE and LOS PADRES FORESTWATCH
By: JOHN T. BUSE
LISA BELENKY
Attorneys for Plaintiffs
NINTH JOINT STATUS REPORT AND REQUEST TO CONTINUE STAY; ORDER
Troy L. Nunley, United States District Judge
Pursuant to the Court's July 13, 2021 minute order (ECF 53), the parties submit this ninth joint status report:
On December 21, 2018, the parties submitted their Eighth Joint Status Report; Request to Continue Stay. ECF 51. In that report, the parties jointly requested that the Court continue the stay of this litigation pending issuance of a new biological opinion from United States Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service and/or issuance of a new or amended record of decision from the Forest Service after completing supplemental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Id. The Court granted the parties' request to continue the stay on January 2, 2019. ECF 52.
The Forest Service has not yet performed supplemental NEPA analysis or secured funding to complete the NEPA work. It had been preparing a contract package to solicit bids to perform the work. However, on January 27, 2021, before the Forest Service had completed the contract package, President Biden issued Executive Order 14008 which, among other things, ordered a “pause” on new oil and natural gas leases on public lands pending completion of a comprehensive review in consultation with other federal agencies:
Sec. 208. Oil and Natural Gas Development on Public Lands and in Offshore Waters. To the extent consistent with applicable law, the Secretary of the Interior shall pause new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters pending completion of a comprehensive review and reconsideration of Federal oil and gas permitting and leasing practices in light of the Secretary of the Interior's broad stewardship responsibilities over the public lands and in offshore waters, including potential climate and other impacts associated with oil and gas activities on public lands or in offshore waters. The Secretary of the Interior shall complete that review in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Secretary of Energy. In conducting this analysis, and to the extent consistent with applicable law, the Secretary of the Interior shall consider whether to adjust royalties associated with coal, oil, and gas resources extracted from public lands and offshore waters, or take other appropriate action, to account for corresponding climate costs.https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/ (last visited 8/10/2021). Following the issuance of the Executive Order, in February the Forest Service's Washington Office directed the Forests to suspend work on new oil and gas lease planning pending further review. In accordance with that direction, the Los Padres National Forest halted work on the contract package to solicit bids for the supplemental NEPA work, and therefore no supplemental NEPA work has commenced.
Following the issuance of Executive Order 14008, several states led by the State of Louisiana filed suit in the Western District of Louisiana against President Biden, the Secretary of the Interior, and a host of government agencies and officials within the U.S. Department of the Interior challenging Section 208 of the Executive Order under the Administrative Procedures Act. Louisiana, et al. v. Biden, et al., Case No. 2:21-CV-00778 (W.D. La., filed Mar. 24, 2021).
On June 15, 2021, District Judge Doughty issued a preliminary injunction in that case, enjoining the U.S. Department of the Interior, the United States Bureau of Land Management, the United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the United States Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, along with their directors, employees and Secretary, “from implementing the Pause of new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters as set forth in Section 208, Executive Order 14008, 86 Fed. Reg. 7619, 7624-25 (Jan. 27, 2021) and as set forth in all documents implementing the terms of said Executive Order by said defendants, as to all eligible lands.” Louisiana, et al. (Dkt. #140).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service were not included in the Louisiana, et al. lawsuit or the preliminary injunction. The Los Padres National Forest has not resumed work on the contract package or securing funding for the supplemental NEPA work and the Forest Service is awaiting further information from the U.S. Department of the Interior in light of the Louisiana, et al. ruling.
Accordingly, the parties jointly request that the stay be continued.
ORDER
IT IS SO ORDERED.