Challengers will likely emphasize the import of certain phrasing in NEPA such as the “interrelations of all components of the natural environment,” “the worldwide and long-range character of environmental problems,” and the direction to “anticipat[e] and prevent[] a decline in the quality of mankind’s world environment.” 42 U.S.C. §§ 4331­, 4332. Moreover, the Supreme Court has held that NEPA requires analysis of at least some cumulative effects in at least some contexts: “[W]hen several proposals for coal-related actions that will have cumulative or synergistic environmental impact upon a region are pending concurrently before an agency, their environmental consequences must be considered together.”

6The Trust has pending public trust claims in Colorado, Maine, North Carolina, and Washington, as well as a separate federal lawsuit filed by the Trust in late 2017, which seeks to prevent the Government from repealing environmental regulations. See State Judicial Actions Now Pending, Our Children’s Trust, https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/pending-state-actions (last accessed Mar. 22, 2018); Complaint for Declaratory Relief, Clean Air Council v. U.S., No. 2:17-cv-04977 (E.D. Pa. Nov. 6, 2017).7Complaint at 81, 92-93 (citing 42 U.S.C. § 4331(b)(1)).8Id. at 2, 4, 94.

The BLM then suspended the permit six times, starting October 1, 1985, with the last suspension occurring on July 15, 1998. During this time, “various agencies, including the Forest Service and the BLM [were] performing various reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. § 4331 et seq., the National Historic Preservation Act (“NHPA”), 16 U.S.C. §§ 470-470x-6, and other applicable statutes.” Id.