2020-06-16_ENFORCEMENT - C1980007

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High Country Conservation Advocates v. United States Forest.... 951 F.3d 1217 (2020) the Solicitor, U.S. Department of the Interior, with him on the brief), for Defendants -Appellees. Michael Drysdale, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Sarah Goldberg, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Salt Lake City, Utah, with him on the brief), for Intervenor Defendant -Appellee. Before BRISCOE, KELLY, and LUCERO, Circuit Judges. Opinion LUCERO, Circuit Judge. This appeal is the latest installment in a long-running dispute concerning road construction and coal leases in National Forest lands near the North Fork of the Gunnison River in Colorado. The Colorado Roadless Rule, which the Forest Service adopted in 2012, prohibits road construction in designated areas but included an exception for the North Fork Coal Mining Area (the "North Fork Exception"). See Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation; Applicability to National Forests in Colorado, 77 Fed. Reg. 39,576, 39,578 (July 3, 2012). In prior litigation, a district court concluded agency decisions violated the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") and the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), High Country Conservation Advocates v. U.S. Forest Serv., 52 F. Supp. 3d 1174, 1181 (D. Colo. 2014) ("High Country I"), and vacated the North Fork Exception, High Country Conservation Advocates v. U.S. Forest Serv., 67 F. Supp. 3d 1262,1266-67 (D. Colo. 2014) ("High Country II"). Following these decisions, the Forest Service prepared a Supplemental Final Environmental Impact Statement ("North Fork SFEIS") and readopted the Exception, Roadless Area Conservation; National Forest System Lands in Colorado, 81 Fed. Reg. 91,811 (Dec. 19, 2016). Mountain Coal Company, LLC, submitted lease modification requests in connection with coal leases in the area. In response, the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (`BLM") issued a Supplemental Final Environmental Impact Statement ("Leasing SFEIS") and approved the requests. In the instant litigation, a coalition of environmental organizations alleges that the agencies violated NEPA and the APA by unreasonably eliminating alternatives from detailed study in the North Fork SFEIS and the Leasing SFEIS. The district court rejected these challenges. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we reverse as to the North Fork SFEIS, *1221 holding that the Forest Service violated NEPA by failing to study in detail the "Pilot Knob VVESTLAW Alternative" proposed by plaintiffs. Accordingly, we remand to the district court with instructions to vacate the North Fork Exception. With respect to the Leasing SFEIS, we hold NEPA did not require consideration of the "Methane Flaring Alternative" proposed by plaintiffs. I The North Fork Coal Mining Area includes parts of three roadless areas: Pilot Knob, Sunset, and Flatirons. The Flatirons and Sunset Roadless Areas are south of the North Fork River and Highway 133. The Pilot Knob Roadless Area is separated from the others, lying north of the river and highway. Mountain Coal operates the West Elk Mine, which is the only operating coal mine in the valley and is located in the Sunset Roadless Area. There is also an idled mine, the Elk Creek Mine, partially located in the Pilot Knob Roadless Area. Coal production at that mine ceased in 2013; as of 2015, its operator was focused on final reclamation work. In 2012, after the Forest Service adopted the Colorado Roadless Rule, BLM approved lease modifications extending Mountain Coal's leases in the Sunset Roadless Area. Conservation groups filed suit challenging the Colorado Roadless Rule, the lease modifications, and a related exploration plan. The district court concluded that the agencies violated NEPA in analyzing the North Fork Exception and the lease modifications. High Country 1, 52 F. Supp. 3d at 1181. After additional briefing on remedies, it severed and vacated the North Fork Exception and vacated the approval of the lease modifications. High Country II, 67 F. Supp. 3d at 1266-67. The Forest Service initiated a new rulemaking process to reimplement the Exception. In response to a draft of the North Fork SFEIS, conservation groups submitted a comment requesting that the Forest Service analyze an alternative that would prohibit road construction in the Pilot Knob Roadless Area but permit it in the other two areas. The groups stated that this alternative—the Pilot Knob Alternative—would protect 5000 acres, permit mining on 14,800 acres and make available 128 million short tons of coal while preserving a geographically and ecologically distinct roadless area. In the North Fork SFEIS, the Forest Service eliminated the Pilot Knob Alternative from detailed study with the following explanation: