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WildEarth Guardians Court Ruling Opens Door for Climate Accountability

Date
December 26, 2013
Contact
Jeremy Nichols (303) 437-7663
In This Release
Climate + Energy  
#KeepItInTheGround
Washington, D.C.—A monumental ruling today from the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. upheld WildEarth Guardians’ right to challenge the federal government’s failure to combat global warming, but at the same time upheld the Interior Department’s sale of millions of tons of coal from the Powder River Basin.

“This is a bittersweet victory. While we’re pleased the court agreed we could challenge the federal government’s failure to limit the global warming impacts of its actions, ultimately the court found it was okay for the Interior Department to completely ignore these impacts,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program Director. “Sally Jewell, the Secretary of Interior, may be jumping with joy, but our climate suffered a major setback today.”

Courts have increasingly rejected challenges to federal agency actions that fail to combat climate change, ruling that groups, like WildEarth Guardians, lack “standing.” Today, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held otherwise. The court found WildEarth Guardians could challenge the federal government’s failure to address global warming, opening the door for climate advocates everywhere to hold the federal government accountable to curtailing carbon.

While allowing Guardians’ legal challenge, the ruling unfortunately upheld an Interior Department decision that cleared the way for more than 450 million tons of coal strip mining in the Powder River Basin and ultimately the release more than 820 million more tons of carbon pollution.

The Powder River Basin of southeastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming is the largest coal producing region in the nation. The region’s massive strip mines produce 42% of all coal in the U.S. Fueling more than 230 power plants, the region is linked to 13% of the nation’s carbon pollution, making it a root contributor to global warming. Virtually all the coal in the Powder River Basin is federally owned and managed by the Interior Department.

In 2010, Interior approved the sale of 450 million tons of coal to Cloud Peak Energy, the third largest coal company in the U.S., to expand the company’s Antelope strip mine in Wyoming, the fourth largest coal mine in the nation. When burned, the lease, called “West Antelope II,” would release more than 820 million tons of carbon.

The West Antelope II lease is one of more than a dozen that have either been approved or proposed for approval by the Interior Department under the Obama Administration. In 2012, the Administration sold more than one billion tons of coal, more than any other prior administration.

Currently, eight leases consisting of 4.5 billion tons of coal are pending approval by the Obama Administration. When burned, this coal threatens to release more than 8.2 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere.

To put this into perspective, approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, which has drawn widespread ire over its climate impacts, would lead to the release 1.3 billion tons of carbon.

At a time when President Obama has committed his administration to combating climate change, the Interior Department’s leasing decisions stands in stark opposition.

“The Interior Department’s attack on our climate is not only on affront to the President, it’s an affront to every American citizen,” said Nichols. “While everyone else in the nation is working to combat global warming, curtail greenhouse gases, and secure a clean energy future, Interior is willfully fueling a dirty energy disaster.”

Guardians, together with the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife, filed suit to overturn the West Antelope II coal lease in 2010. In 2012, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. rejected the suit, holding that Guardians lacked “standing.” Today’s ruling overturns the 2012 ruling on standing, but ultimately upholds the Interior Department’s decision, finding the Agency adequately addressed the climate and air quality impacts of its leasing decision.

The ruling comes as WildEarth Guardians has filed suit to overturn six other coal leases in the Powder River Basin, largely over the failure of the Interior Department to address the climate implications of its actions, as well as impacts to clean air in the region. Although the D.C. Circuit approved the West Antelope II lease, the ruling does not mean federal courts will similarly uphold the other leases.

“This ruling is a setback, but by no means is it a defeat,” said Nichols. “As long as the Interior Department remains committed to coal, we’ll be doing everything in our power to put an end to more leasing and mining and to start meaningfully protecting our climate.”

 

Other Contact
Samantha Ruscavage-Barz, WildEarth Guardians’ Staff Attorney, (505) 401-4180