Rocky Mountain Wild; San Louis Valley Ecosystem Council; San Juan Citizens Alliance; Wilderness Workshop
15-cv-01342-JLK (D. Colo.)
United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Matthew Sandler and Travis E. Stills
412,500.00
Court
Null
1) Claims the EIS and NEPA process are based on an unlawfully narrow design of Federal Action with an unreasonably narrow Purpose and Need statement, 2) The range of alternatives considered is unlawfully narrow, 3) The denial of Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture expanded access request was inappropriately excluded from the alternatives, 4) Forest Service failed to involve cooperating agencies, 5) The FEIS fails to identify and analyze the effectiveness of available mitigation measures, 6) Consideration of connected actions is inadequate, 7) The FEIS failed to provide the public and decisionmaker with a hard look at direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of the action, 8) There was undue influence and proponent control of NEPA process, and 9) There was a failure to conduct unbiased review of objections.
On May 19, 2017, the District Court of Colorado ruled that the Forest Service violated NEPA and set aside the Record of Decision authorizing the Land Exchange Order.