The Same NEPA Proposal or Connected NEPA Actions?: Why the Bureau of Land Management's New Oil Shale Rules and Regulations Should be Set Aside

Abstract

In November 2008, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finalized a rule opening public land in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming for oil shale leasing and finalized regulations creating policies and procedures for that leasing. The rule and regulations are the BLM’s attempt to fulfill their mandate under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to create a commercial oil shale leasing program in the western United States. As federal actions significantly affecting the environment, both the rule and regulations, are subject to the procedural requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The purpose of this Note is to point to two possible errors by the BLM in fulfilling NEPA’s procedural require-ments. These procedural errors are fodder for citizen-plaintiffs hoping to have the Bush-era rule and regulations judicially set aside and subsequently abandoned by the Obama Administration.