** Oil leases tossed out for violating sage-grouse plans
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2020
Greater sage-grouse, USFWS ([link removed])
A federal judge in Montana canceled oil and gas leases on more than 470 square miles of public land in Montana and Wyoming because the Trump administration failed to protect the greater sage-grouse ([link removed]) . Chief Judge Brian Morris ruled ([link removed]) that 440 leases across the two states, as well as a 2018 instruction memorandum from the Bureau of Land Management, violated the 2015 sage-grouse plans.
Morris' ruling could have broader implications, potentially affecting more than a million acres of lease sales across five states, according to Mike Freeman, an attorney for the conservation groups that sued over the lease sales.
“The errors here occurred at the beginning of the oil and gas lease sale process, infecting everything that followed,” Judge Morris wrote.
** Is BLM hitting the brakes?
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Last week's sudden postponement (http://
) of a scheduled oil and gas lease sale in New Mexico was just one of a string of missed deadlines at the Bureau of Land Management. Dino Grandoni with the Washington Post’s Energy 202 reports ([link removed]) that BLM has yet to announce public comment periods for three other upcoming lease sales in Utah and Nevada—which is a legally-required step before leasing public land for drilling. The Trump administration hasn't explained the delay.
Quick hits
** Bernhardt moves to quickly send Interior employees back into offices despite pandemic
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E&E News ([link removed])
** Requests for oil and gas lease suspensions, royalty cuts growing in Wyoming
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Wyoming Public Media ([link removed]) | Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])
** Judge tosses oil leases in sage-grouse habitat
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Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
** Tribal leaders oppose online consultation with Interior during pandemic
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High Country News ([link removed])
** Opinion: Using COVID funds to plug oil wells shows failure of state bonding requirements
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Bismarck Tribune ([link removed])
** Opinion: Fully funding LWCF, investing in parks needs to be part of a stimulus package
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])
** Man jailed, banned from Yellowstone after rappelling into canyon in search of Forrest Fenn’s treasure
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Powell Tribune ([link removed]) | Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])
** Boy Scout leads effort to clean up Colorado BLM land trashed during pandemic
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Grand Junction Daily Sentinel ([link removed])
Quote of the day
The Interior Department’s chickens are coming home to roost. This court ruling reaffirms that the administration has continued to act in bad faith. A deal's a deal, and you can’t simply bulldoze the hard fought agreements built across the West to protect the Sage-Grouse."
—Brian Rutledge, National Audubon Society, E&E News ([link removed])
Picture this
** @Interior ([link removed])
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The Nobles Emigrant Trail is a remote area where wildflowers bloom & the Milky Way sparkles #Nevada ([link removed])
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