For several years, the Otis Capital USA Corp has been exploring for gold on its mining claims held on public lands near the Idaho-Montana border. Otis filed a proposal to expand its current operations, known as the Kilgore Project, and it was approved in 2018 by the Forest Service following an Environmental Assessment (EA) and a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). The Forest Service’s Environmental Assessment highlighted the importance of groundwater monitoring to ensure that drilling does not cause contamination of the groundwater. At the same time, baseline data is crucial to the monitoring program to provide a basis for comparison—without a baseline the agency will not know when conditions are deteriorating. Additionally, in the Dog Bone Ridge area—where drilling will occur—there is no groundwater monitoring. The Idaho Conservation League filed a petition to vacate the Forest Service’s EA and FONSI, arguing that Otis’s expanded mining operations pose substantial risks of groundwater contamination. Should the court vacate the Forest Service’s rulings?