Moncrief v. U.S. Dep't of Interior

339 F. Supp. 3d 1
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedSeptember 24, 2018
DocketCivil Case No. 17-609 (RJL)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 339 F. Supp. 3d 1 (Moncrief v. U.S. Dep't of Interior) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moncrief v. U.S. Dep't of Interior, 339 F. Supp. 3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2018).

Opinion

RICHARD J. LEON, United States District Judge

Plaintiff W.A. Moncrief, Jr. ("Moncrief"), the holder of a federal oil and gas lease in Montana, brings suit against the United States Department of Interior ("Interior") and the Director of the Montana Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") (collectively, "federal defendants" or "the Government") relating to the Government's cancellation of his lease after suspending all oil and gas drilling and extraction activity on that lease for more than thirty years. See Compl. [Dkt. # 1] ¶¶ 9-11, 48-59. Plaintiff seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, including that this Court vacate the cancellation and reinstate the lease, based on federal defendants' alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. § 551 et seq. See Compl. ¶¶ 60-86. Before this Court are the parties' Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment. See Pl.'s Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. # 19] ("Pl.'s Mot."); Defs.' Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. # 21] ("Defs.' Mot."); Df.-Intervenor's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. # 24] ("Df-Intervenor's Mot."). For the following reasons, the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment [Dkt. # 19] is GRANTED and defendants' motions [Dkt. ## 21, 24] are DENIED.

Background

I. Procedural History

The W.A. Moncrief ("Moncrief") lease is one of several leases located in the Badger-Two Medicine ("Badger-Two") area in the Lewis and Clark National Forest in northwestern Montana.1 In 1981, the United States Forest Service ("Forest Service") prepared a 165-page Environmental Assessment ("EA") of oil and gas drilling in the Lewis and Clark National Forest, including the Badger-Two area. See Non-Wilderness Leasing Environmental Assessment, Joint Appendix ("J.A.") Vol. VI [Dkt. # 32-3] at 44-54 (FS-HC-014364-014434). The EA considered alternatives to leasing, including "no action" type alternatives, *4and engaged in American Indian Religious Freedom Act consultation with the Blackfeet Tribe. See id. at 50 (FS-HC-014404). The Forest Service ultimately issued a Decision Notice ("DN") and Finding of No Significant Impact ("FONSI"), approving "Alternative 3" which granted leases "with surface occupancy...only for accessible areas that could be protected" and provided that "[a]fter lease issuance, any proposed oil and gas activities would be fully analyzed under NEPA." Id. at 45-46 (FS-HC-014365-66).

The Forest Service issued Federal Lease No. 53320 to Randall L. Weeks ("Weeks") on June 1, 1982. See Issuance of Lease, J.A. Vol. I [Dkt. # 31-1] at 69-80 (BLM-M000764-774). Weeks subsequently sold the lease to Atlantic Richfield Corporation ("ARCO") in December 1983 for $1.3 million. See 1/13/84 Lease Assignment, J.A. Vol. I at 49 (BLM-M000687). In May 1988, ARCO requested a suspension of the lease while BLM was considering applications for permits to drill ("APD") on other leases in the Badger-Two area, including the leases owned by Fina Oil (subsequently acquired by Solenex LLP) and Chevron, see 6/1/88 DOI Letter to ARCO, J.A. Vol. I at 68 (BLM-M000746), intending that suspension to "terminate upon completion of the Environmental Impact Statement for [the] pending application[s]...at which time the BLM and Forest Service would consider other drilling proposals." Id. It was with the understanding that this was a "temporary suspension" that W.A. "Monty" Moncrief purchased the lease for "substantial consideration" on March 1, 1989. See 6/1/82 Lease Assignment, J.A. Vol. I at 66-67 (BLM-M000740-741); see also Decl. of C.B. Moncrief ("Moncrief Decl.") [Dkt. # 19-2] ¶ 3.

The Forest Service and BLM prepared a joint Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS") and approved the Fina and Chevron APDs in 1991. See Forest Service ROD, J.A. Vol. I at 106-07 (FS002148-2149). The BLM and Forest Service later withdrew approval to seek further review of traditional practices in the Badger-Two area, but then approved the Fina and Chevron APDs again in 1993. See 1/15/93 BLM Letter to Fina Approving APD with Conditions, J.A. Vol. I at 108 (FS002207). Yet even though the Chevron and Solenex APDs had been approved, BLM continued to suspend leases in the Badger-Two Medicine area from 1993-1998, including the Moncrief lease. See generally Defs.' Mot. at 7-9; Pl.'s Mot. at 12.2 In 2002, after consultation with the Blackfeet Nation under Section 106 of the NHPA, a portion of Badger-Two area was designated as a "traditional cultural district" or "TCD." See 1/31/02 Determination of TCD Eligibility Notification, J.A. Vol. IV [Dkt. # 32-1] at 201 (FS005942). This area did not originally include the Solenex proposed well location or the Moncrief lease. See 2002 Map of Badger-Two Medicine TCD, J.A. Vol. I at 163 (FS004000). However, after 10 years of continued consultation, additional acreage including the Moncrief Lease was added to the TCD in 2012. See 9/21/15 ACHP Final Comments, J.A. Vol. I at 3-11 (FS006584-6592); 6/20/13 Letter re Boundary Expansion, J.A. Vol. IV at 223 (FS006010); 2014 Map of Badger-Two Medicine TCD, J.A. Vol. II [Dkt. # 31-2] at 20 (FS004742).

Curiously, the Forest Service did not make a determination of adverse effects *5under the NHPA until 2014, finding that there were no mitigation measures agreeable to the Blackfeet Tribe that would allow for development in the Badger-Two area. See 12/3/14 Determination of Adverse Effects, J.A. Vol. V [Dkt. # 32-2] at 69-79 (FS006532-654). Additional consultations took place in 2015. See Defs.' Mot. at 10. On September 21, 2015, the Advisory Council of Historic Preservation ("ACHP") recommended that the Departments of Interior and Agriculture cancel the Solenex lease. See ACHP Comments, J.A. Vol. VI at 8 (FS006590). Then on March 17, 2016, BLM disapproved Solenex's APD and cancelled its lease, claiming that the initial NEPA and NHPA analyses upon which its leasing decision was based were inadequate. See Defs.' Mot. at 11.

In late 2016, a Moncrief employee received a phone call informing it that its lease would likely be cancelled as well. See Defs.' Answer ¶ 56; Email Messages, J.A. Vol. 1 at 32 (BLM-M000665). Moncrief's attorneys sent a letter to Interior on November 23, 2016, requesting that the lease not be cancelled and also requesting a hearing. See 11/23/16 WPD&N Letter, J.A. Vol. 1 at 84-85 (BLM-M000801-802). Interior never responded to Moncrief's request for a hearing, but sent a letter decision administratively cancelling the Moncrief Lease on January 6, 2017, in the waning days of the Obama administration.

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Bluebook (online)
339 F. Supp. 3d 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moncrief-v-us-dept-of-interior-cadc-2018.