U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill overturned a decision to allow mining on habitat for the greater sage-grouse.
Winmill stated the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to provide a “reasoned explanation” for cancelling its own earlier proposal to protect sagebrush habitats from mining. Winmill recognized a 2011 BLM analysis as the best available science on sage grouse conservation measures and rejected the agency’s 2015 decision denying protection for the species.
“This ruling is a decisive win for sage grouse and all the other species of wildlife that rely on healthy sagebrush habitats,” said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist and executive director with Western Watersheds Project. “Because this particular court has adjudicated so many sage grouse lawsuits, the judge has a command of sage grouse science and was able to expose the Trump administration’s dismantling of habitat protections as an arbitrary attack on common-sense habitat protections.”
