Opinion ID: 613914
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Changes in Forest Service Policy

Text: Several changes in the Service's policy led to this litigation. On May 24, 2007, an attorney in the Service's Office of General Counsel authored a memorandum concluding that the issuance of an NTP is a major federal action subject to NEPA. The memo relied heavily on Duncan Energy Co. v. U.S. Forest Service, 109 F.3d 497 (8th Cir. 1997) ( Duncan I ), and adopted a broader interpretation of the Service's authority over 1911 reserved rights than was adopted in Minard Run I, which the memorandum cited only once and did not discuss. However, there was no immediate change in the Service's policy in response to this memorandum. On November 20, 2008, the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (FSEEE) and the Sierra Club filed suit against the Service seeking a declaration that its practice of issuing NTPs without conducting an appropriate environmental analysis under NEPA was contrary to law and also seeking an injunction against issuance of further NTPs without proper NEPA analysis. See FSEEE v. U.S. Forest Service, No. 08-323, 2009 WL 1324154 (W.D.Pa. May 12, 2009). On January 16, 2009, while the action was still pending, the Service ceased processing and issuing NTPs, explaining that this was being done [i]n light of pending litigation and that the Service intended to file a Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS the following month. On April 9, 2009, the parties to the FSEEE litigation entered into a Settlement Agreement purporting to resolve all claims. The Settlement Agreement provided that, with the exception of 54 grandfathered NTP applications, [the Service] agrees that it shall undertake appropriate NEPA analysis prior to issuing Notices to Proceed, or any other instrument authorizing access to and surface occupancy of the Forest for oil and gas projects on split estates including both reserved and outstanding mineral interests. Appropriate NEPA analysis shall consist of the use of a categorical exclusion or the preparation of an Environmental Assessment or an Environmental Impact Assessment. The Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association (PIOGA) and the Allegheny Forest Alliance (AFA), both appellees in this action, were not included in the settlement negotiations but sought to intervene in the case once they learned that the case might settle. Although PIOGA and AFA were permitted to intervene in the FSEEE action, the district court declined to consider their objections to the settlement and approved voluntary dismissal of the case. FSEEE, 2009 WL 1324154, at . On April 10, 2009, ANF Forest Supervisor Leanne Marten issued a statement (the Marten Statement) explaining that, because of the Settlement Agreement, [a]ll ... pending oil and gas proposals, and all future proposals, will be processed after the appropriate level of environmental analysis has been conducted under the NEPA. Marten announced that the Service would be initiating a forest-wide site specific environmental analysis for proposals that were not included in the settlement and any other proposals for activity anticipated between now and 2013, and that this process was estimated to take until at least mid-April 2010. Aside from the 54 NTP applications identified in the Settlement Agreement, no new drilling in the ANF would be authorized until the forest-wide EIS was complete. As these policy changes were taking place, the Service took the position that mineral rights owners were required to obtain an NTP prior to making any changes to land in the ANF. For example, in a 2008 letter, the Service advised a mineral rights owner that entry upon, and removal of, timber from National Forest System lands requires the express prior written approval of the Forest Service and that [f]ailure to do so is a violation of both federal and state law and federal regulation. The Service directed the recipient's considered attention to several statutes imposing criminal penalties for failure to abide by Service regulations. Since the Settlement Agreement and the Marten Statement, the Service has warned mineral rights owners and their contractors on several occasions that new drilling operations without an NTP are not permitted and may result in criminal penalties. Although the Service does not appear to have formally adopted a rule to this effect, it has acknowledged that new drilling without an NTP may result in a civil enforcement action or criminal penalties.