8th Circuit: Agency Did Not Err In Approving Drilling Near Tribal Water Source

(March 8, 2024, 1:55 PM EST) -- ST. LOUIS — The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) did not act arbitrarily or capriciously by approving several permits for oil and natural gas extraction under a reservoir that serves as the only source of drinking water for the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation (MHA) because the agency met all administrative requirements in approving the project, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming a trial court’s judgment....