United States Tenth Circuit

In an environmental suit involving the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) sale of oil and gas mineral leases on public lands in a grasslands area located in south-central New Mexico, defendants' motion to dismiss plaintiffs' appeal of a ruling denying them declaratory and injunctive relief is granted where: 1) the BLM terminated the two leases at issue on appeal for nonpayment, leaving no case or controversy at issue and no meaningful grounds for relief; and 2) no mootness exception applied.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/28/2008
• Published 10/29/2008

Judges

• BRORBY, Circuit Judge., Before MURPHY, BRORBY, and HARTZ, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Erik Schlenker-Goodrich of Western Environmental Law Center, Taos, NM, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Aaron Avila, Attorney, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. (Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General, John S. Most and John A. Bryson, Attorneys, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; Arthur Arguedas, Office of the Solicitor, Department of the Interior, Santa Fe, NM, with him on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees.