Exxon Corporation v. Manuel Lujan, Secretary of the United States Department of Interior, and the United States Department of Interior

SEYMOUR, Circuit Judge.

In this appeal from a district court order affirming the decision of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Exxon Corporation challenges the Secretary of Interior’s decision to issue a right-of-way across federal land in Wyoming for Exxon’s carbon dioxide pipeline pursuant to section 28 of the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA), 30 U.S.C. § 185 (1988). Exxon argues that the right-of-way should properly have been issued under the auspices of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), 43 U.S.C. § 1761(a)(2) (1988). The district court held that the agency’s decision to issue…