<
https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2022/court-strikes-down-hundreds-of-trump-era-oil-and-gas-leases-as-violating-sage-grouse-protections>
"On Friday, the U.S. District Court in Montana invalidated hundreds of oil and
gas leases sold by the Trump administration. The leases covered hundreds of
thousands of acres of sage-grouse habitat protected under the Bureau of Land
Management’s (BLM) 2015 sage-grouse conservation plan. The ruling mirrors a
similar May 2020 decision in an earlier stage of the case, which invalidated
several other lease sales on the same grounds, and rejected the Trump
administration’s attempt to gut the 2015 plan by reinterpreting it to allow
leasing millions of acres of the iconic bird’s habitat for fossil fuel
development.
Friday’s decision ruled that an additional group of five lease sales in Wyoming
and Nevada also violated the 2015 plan. The court also directed that all leases
issued during those sales should be vacated but stayed that remedy until any
appeals are taken from the ruling. In the meantime, however, the court ordered
that no work developing or obtaining production from any of the leases can take
place.
The 2015 sage grouse conservation plan was the result of a historic effort that
brought to the table conservationists, sportsmen, representatives for ranching
and industry, and government officials. The 2015 plan required BLM to
prioritize new oil and gas leasing outside of sage-grouse habitat. In December
2017, however, the Trump administration reversed course and “reinterpreted” the
prioritization requirement to claim that it placed no limits on new leasing.
The decision Friday came in a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the
Montana Wildlife Federation, The Wilderness Society, National Audubon Society,
National Wildlife Federation, and Montana Audubon."
Via Future Crunch Mar 26, 2022:
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
