AERA ENERGY LLC v. Salazar

MEMORANDUM OPINION

RICHARD J. LEON, District Judge.

Over two years ago, the Interior Board of Land Appeals (“IBLA”), an administrative appeals board in the U.S. Department of the Interior (“DOI”), set aside a decision by the Pacific Regional Director (“the Regional Director”) of the Mineral Management Service (“MMS”) to exclude a total of four oil and gas leases from two Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”) units off the coast of California. The IBLA determined that the record did not support the Regional Director’s conclusory findings, so it appointed an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) to conduct…