Areas where sage grouse are found
Idaho Federal Judge Ronald E. Bush voided five oil and gas leases on public lands, amounting to nearly a million acres, saying that the Trump Administration wrongly excluded public input before the leases were granted.
An environmental group said granting leases for drilling for oil or gas on lands where sage grouse can be found was unlawfully restricted from public participation.
The Bureau of Land Management, that issues the leases, have restrictions that require public comment for some leasing procedures.
The judge confirmed that it is illegal to silence the public to expand fossil-fuel extraction, said a senior engineer with a biodiversity group. “The court wasn’t fooled by the agency’s efforts to disguise its intention to provide greater influence to extractive agencies, and sage grouse and 350 other sagebrush dependent species will benefit” from the court’s decision, he said.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the Trump Administration and the need to balance the need for fuels with environmental protections.
- About the protection of endangered species when it comes to certain kinds of human activity.
Sources: The Hill, Axios
