Filed Date: Aug. 7, 2025
Case Ongoing
Clearinghouse coding complete
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), a non-profit environmental membership organization dedicated to preserving wilderness and wild places in Utah, first filed suit in 2023, challenging the 2019 approval of the Sevier Playa Potash Project (S. Utah Wilderness All. v. U.S. Dep’t of the Interior, Case No. 2:23-cv-00492). The court dismissed that case without prejudice in 2024 after Peak Minerals, the company behind the potash mining plan, submitted an amended proposal to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In 2025, BLM approved the revised project through a Determination of NEPA Adequacy (DNA), concluding that the 2019 environmental analysis was still sufficient. The current case challenges that approval, arguing that BLM relied on a legally flawed analysis from the original project and failed to conduct the new environmental review required by law.
On August 7, 2025, SUWA filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah against the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), along with its West Desert District Manager. The plaintiffs alleged violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act. Represented by private counsel, SUWA sought declaratory and injunctive relief to set aside the approvals and halt the project. The case is assigned to Judge David Barlow.
The plaintiffs argued that BLM’s 2019 Record of Decision (ROD) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) failed to take the required “hard look” at the project’s impacts on groundwater, dark night skies, migratory birds, air quality, the area’s “wild and remote nature,” and its “scenic vistas.” They alleged that BLM had not evaluated cumulative groundwater impacts from the related Pine Valley Project, which would draw from the same regional aquifer, and had failed to assess effects on dark night skies despite the site’s location in the Great Basin National Heritage Area, known for the largest contiguous region of dark skies in the United States. They further claimed BLM had not adequately considered the project’s cumulative impacts on regional air quality.
The plaintiffs also contended that BLM had improperly relied on a Determination of NEPA Adequacy to approve the modified 2025 mining plan without conducting a new environmental analysis, even though the revised plan had “dramatically altered” the project. The new plan extended the potential lifespan from 32 years to at least 50 years and increased the potential full-scale production capacity to 474,000 short tons of sulfate of potash (SOP) per year, nearly 25 percent more than the 372,000 tons per year analyzed in the 2019 EIS. They argued that these significant changes required a new environmental review, not merely a DNA.
The plaintiffs further asserted that BLM had ignored new scientific evidence submitted by SUWA, including a technical report from a certified hydrogeologist, which concluded that the 2019 EIS groundwater analysis was flawed because it relied on an overly narrow study area and underestimated impacts by using a contractor-created model instead of the widely recognized GBCAAS model. They claimed that the reliance on the existing and legally flawed EIS made the agency’s decision-making process arbitrary and capricious, a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
This case is ongoing.
Summary Authors
Victoria Tan (8/10/2025)
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71051491/parties/southern-utah-wilderness-alliance-v-united-states-department-of-the/
Bloch, Stephen H. (Utah)
Larsen, Hanna C. (Utah)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71051491/southern-utah-wilderness-alliance-v-united-states-department-of-the/
Last updated Aug. 23, 2025, 10:56 a.m.
State / Territory: Utah
Case Type(s):
Special Collection(s):
Trump Administration 2.0: Challenges to the Government
Trump Administration 2.0: Challenges to the Government (Environmental Protections)
Key Dates
Filing Date: Aug. 7, 2025
Case Ongoing: Yes
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
A non-profit environmental membership organization dedicated to the preservation of wilderness and wild places in Utah
Plaintiff Type(s):
Non-profit NON-religious organization
Public Interest Lawyer: No
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
U.S. Department of the Interior (- United States (national) -), Federal
U.S. Bureau of Land Management (- United States (national) -), Federal
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 551 et seq.
National Environmental Protection Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321–4370f
Available Documents:
Outcome
Prevailing Party: None Yet / None
Nature of Relief:
Source of Relief:
Issues
Environmental Justice and Resources: