Friends of the Earth v. Haaland

A case study on the legal challenge 'Friends of the Earth v. Haaland', where plaintiffs alleged that the Biden administration violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by reinstating a lease sale for oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico based on outdated environmental analysis.

• The Biden administration reinstated a lease sale for oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico in August 2021, utilizing a Determination of NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) Adequacy based on the same analysis previously used by the Trump administration.
• Plaintiffs in the suit challenged the claim that extracting up to 1.12 billion barrels of oil and 4.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas would not contribute to climate change or would reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to a 'no-go' alternative.
• The legal challenge alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and NEPA, arguing that the five-year-old NEPA analysis relied on an unsupported 'foreign substitution effect' and failed to incorporate new information regarding how additional leasing would exacerbate the climate crisis.

APA

Natural Justice (2022). Friends of the Earth v. Haaland. https://naturaljustice.org/publication/environmental-court-cases-friends-of-the-earth-v-haaland/

Chicago

Natural Justice. Friends of the Earth v. Haaland. 2022. https://naturaljustice.org/publication/environmental-court-cases-friends-of-the-earth-v-haaland/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Natural Justice |title=Friends of the Earth v. Haaland |date=1 March 2022 |url=https://naturaljustice.org/publication/environmental-court-cases-friends-of-the-earth-v-haaland/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{naturaljustice2022friends, author = {{Natural Justice}}, title = {{Friends of the Earth v. Haaland}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, year = {2022}, month = mar, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/publication/environmental-court-cases-friends-of-the-earth-v-haaland/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }