BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration has completed a review of plans to ease protections for a struggling bird species in seven states in the U.S. West, but there’s little time to put the relaxed rules for industry into action before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. The ground-dwelling, chicken-sized […]
BOISE, IDAHO (AP) — A judge in Idaho has overturned a federal directive to curtail environmental review and eliminate mandatory public comment periods concerning oil and gas leasing on some public lands. The U.S. magistrate judge vacated five oil and gas leases in Nevada, Utah and Wyoming, ruling the federal Bureau of Land Management failed to allow […]
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)-The Interior Department, Idaho and Wyoming are appealing a court ruling that halted a Trump administration plan to ease land-use restrictions that protect struggling sage grouse. The notices filed Monday say the agency and states will seek a review by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of […]
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) — A federal agency says rebuilding a sage-grouse population found only in Colorado and Utah could take more than 50 years and cost nearly $561 million. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported Saturday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released a draft recovery plan for the […]
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana’s greater sage grouse population has fallen more than 40% over the past three years, mirroring recent declines across the U.S. West for a bird species rejected for federal protections in 2015. State wildlife officials estimate there were about 44,000 ground-dwelling sage grouse in Montana this […]
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho’s sage-grouse numbers have dropped 52% since the federal government decided not to list the birds as an endangered species in the fall of 2015. It’s not yet clear whether the three-year decline is part of a cyclical pattern or indicative of a more serious issue, […]
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Four conservation groups have asked a judge to block a Trump administration plan allowing drilling, mining and other activities in seven Western states they say will harm sage grouse. Western Watersheds Project and other groups asked for the injunction in U.S. District Court in Idaho late […]
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Environmental groups are suing the Trump administration for selling oil and gas leases on huge swaths of Western U.S. public lands while allegedly ignoring policies meant to protect an imperiled bird. The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court seeks to reverse lease sales across 475 […]
