WESTERN ENERGY ALLIANCE v. SALAZAR

No. 11-8071.

709 F.3d 1040 (2013)

WESTERN ENERGY ALLIANCE; Baseline Minerals, Inc.; Nerd Gas Company, LLC; Samson Resources Company, Plaintiffs-Appellants, Double Deuce Land and Minerals, Inc.; Wold Oil Properties, Inc.; Laramie Energy II, LLC, Plaintiffs, American Petroleum Institute, Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. Ken SALAZAR, in his official capacity as Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior; United States Department of the Interior; Bureau of Land Management; Don Simpson, in his official capacity as Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming State Director; Juan Palma, in his official capacity as Bureau of Land Management, Utah State Director; Robert Abbey, in his official capacity as Bureau of Land Management Director, Defendants-Appellees, Wyoming Outdoor Council; Wilderness Society; National Wildlife Federation; Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance; Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.; National Audubon Society; Biodiversity Conservation Alliance; Greater Yellowstone Coalition; Center for Native Ecosystems, Defendant-Intervenors-Appellees.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

March 12, 2013.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Rebecca W. Watson ( Kathryn Haight , Stephen A. Bain , and Nora R. Pincus with her on the briefs) of Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley, PC, Denver, CO, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Melanie R. Kay ( Robin L. Cooley on the brief) of Earthjustice, Denver, CO, for Defendants-Intervenors-Appellees.

Vivian H.W. Wang , Attorney, Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. ( Robert Dreher , Acting Assistant Attorney General; and Joanna Brinkman and David C. Shilton , Attorneys, Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., with her on the brief) for Federal Defendants-Appellees.

Before MURPHY, SEYMOUR, and HOLMES, Circuit Judges.


SEYMOUR, Circuit Judge.

This litigation concerns whether the Mineral Leasing Act ("the Act" or "MLA"), as amended by the Reform Act of 1987, requires the Secretary of the Interior ("the Secretary") to issue leases for parcels of land to the highest bidding energy company within sixty days of payment to the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM"). Appellants (collectively "Energy Companies") brought suit seeking to compel the Secretary to issue 118 pending leases on which...

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