Notice of intent letter sent to EPA on March 4, 2019, on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club

Pursuant to Clean Air Act § 307(b)(1), 42 U.S.C. § 7607(b)(1), Federal Rules of Appellate Procedures Rule 15, and D.C. Circuit Rule 15, Downwinders at Risk, Sierra Club, and National Parks Conservation Association hereby petition this Court for review of the final action of Respondents U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, announced in a Federal Register notice published at 83 FR 62,998 (Dec. 6, 2018) and titled “Implementation of the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone: Nonattainment Area State Implementation Plan Requirements; Final Rule.”

This case challenges the Bureau of Land Management’s (“BLM”) decisions to issue 121 oil and gas leases covering 117,720.59 acres in northwest Colorado and northeast Utah without considering how the air pollution from developing the leases will adversely impact public health, the environment, and treasured public lands like Dinosaur National Monument.

This action is brought under the federal Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 7401–7671q, to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take the statutorily required action of making findings under 42 U.S.C. § 7410(k)(1)(B), and publishing notice of those findings in the Federal Register, that the State of California has failed to develop and submit at least four separate nonattainment state implementation plan revisions to combat persistent violations of the 1997, 2006, and 2012 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter in the San Joaquin Valley, California.