• Animals

Judge Strikes Down Trump’s Lift of Mining Ban in Threatened Bird Habitats

• #30x30
• Audubon
• Bureau of Land Management
• climate change
• mining
• sage grouse

Last week, a federal judge struck down a Trump administration action that abrogated an agreement under which no mining would occur in the habitat of the threatened greater sage grouse. While the judge’s decision doesn’t reinstate the Obama-era ban, the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management must reevaluate the efficacy of mining in the region.

Why This Matters: In the midst of a global biodiversity crisis, the Audubon society reports that two-thirds of North American birds are at risk of extinction due to climate change.

• Energy

Trump and Big Oil Have Some Bad Days In Court

• California
• Clean Air Act
• climate change
• conservation
• endangered species
• Endangered Species Act
• environment
• federal pre-emption
• sage grouse

A federal appeals court in California ruled that lawsuits against the major oil companies by San Mateo County and the city of Oakland for compensation for climate change impacts such as sea-level rise are not blocked by federal law from going forward in state court.  And a judge in Montana invalidated 440 oil and gas leases on federal land because the Interior Department did not adhere to an agreement between the agency and farmers, ranchers, conservationists, and energy groups to protect habitat for the sage grouse, which allowed the bird to remain off the endangered species list.

Why This Matters:  Oil and gas companies have suffered several high profile unfavorable rulings in recent days.

• Energy

Federal Judge Cancels $125m In Oil and Gas Leases on Sage Grouse Habitat

• Bureau of Land Management
• Endangered Species Act
• oil and gas leases
• sage grouse

A federal judge in Idaho last Thursday invalidated $125 million in oil and gas leases on public lands in Nevada, Wyoming, and Utah because the Trump administration failed to give the public adequate time for comments on them.

Why This Matters:  Score one for the sage grouse!  Under the ruling,  nearly 1 million acres’ worth of fast-tracked public lands leases have been canceled.

• Animals

Sage Grouse Habitat To Be Opened For Drilling

• #savegrouse
• Bird
• Department of Interior
• endangered species
• oil and gas
• oil and gas drilling
• sage grouse

Late last week, the Trump Administration announced its decision to open up for oil and gas drilling nine millions of acres of critical habitat for the Sage Grouse, a bird whose endangered status hinged on whether the habitat would be saved.