Chronology of Success 2011
‘Winning for the West’
January 2011
- Decision by U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge holds that BLM violated federal law in issuing grazing permits for Grouse, Rock, and other allotments in Pahsimeroi valley of central Idaho; and faults BLM for not studying impacts on bull trout and sage-grouse, and for not evaluate “no grazing” or “reduced grazing” alternatives.
- In separate Pahsimeroi litigation, settlement was reached with U.S. Forest Service and BLM to conduct new consultation under Endangered Species Act over livestock grazing and other land management impacts on salmon, steelhead and bull trout. Settlement also imposes interim management restrictions to protect streams from livestock impacts.
February 2011
- On the eve of trial over its baseless allegations against our clients, WWP and Valley Sun LLC, BLM drops proposed decision to cancel grazing permit for the Greenfire Preserve on the East Fork Salmon River, which has been held for restoration and conservation over the last decade.
March 2011
- Representing Idaho Rivers United, we filed first federal court litigation over Big Oil mega-loads proposed to be hauled up Highway 12 along the Lochsa and Middle Fork Clearwater Rivers, based on Forest Service’s violations of Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
April 2011
- Challenge brought before U.S. Court of Appeals to Spring Valley Wind Project, which was approved by BLM without a detailed environmental impact statement to authorize industrial wind farm in eastern Nevada, only four miles from the most important bat case in the Great Basin region and within sage-grouse habitat.
May 2011
- Clean Water Act case filed against Atlanta Gold Corp. for exceeding pollution limits on arsenic discharges from historic mining site on Middle Fork Boise River.
June 2011
- We wrapped up a two-week evidentiary hearing and briefing before an Idaho Transportation Dept. hearing officer in our challenge to ITD’s approval of over 200 “mega-loads” by ExxonMobil Corporation, which would be shipped up the winding canyons of Highway 12 along Idaho’s wild and scenic Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers. Our administrative challenges succeeded in blocking almost all Big Oil mega-loads up Highway 12 to date.
July 2011
- U.S. District Court in Oregon issued a strong ruling in our favor, protecting sensitive plants and wildlife in Oregon’s Chemult Ranger District from newly-authorized cattle grazing. The area contains a unique expanse of wetlands that provide habitat for rare plants, mollusks, and the Oregon spotted frog. Many of these species, which are designated as U.S. Forest Service sensitive species because of their rare status and declining numbers, were just discovered in these wetlands in the last few years. The court ruled that the U. S. Forest Service violated the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
August 2011
- On Wyoming’s Green Mountain Common allotment–one of the largest unfenced areas in the West–an administrative law judge with the U.S. Department of the Interior granted our motion to prevent BLM from constructing dozens of miles of new fencing, which pose adverse harms to sage-grouse, pronghorn antelope, and much other wildlife.
September 2011
- In a groundbreaking victory in one of the largest environmental law cases ever filed–challenging BLM land use plans for over 25 million acres of public lands in sage-grouse range around the West–we won a federal district court ruling that BLM violated NEPA and FLPMA in adopting Resource Management Plans for the Pinedale Field Office in Wyoming and Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho. U.S. District Court Judge Winmill ruled that BLM unlawfully failed to consider how energy development, livestock grazing, and other actions will adversely impact greater sage-grouse.
October 2011
- In a big victory for our clients and everyone who cares about preserving the wild and scenic Clearwater/Lochsa corridor from Big Oil mega-loads, ExxonMobil publicly announced it is sending its Kearl Tar Sands mega-shipments via different routes than Highway 12 in Idaho.
- U.S. Supreme Court rejected a ranching industry appeal of our win in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, reversing the Bush Administration’s 2006 rules that would reduce public involvement and weaken environmental protections on grazing management across 160+ million acres of public lands in the American West. As a result of our court victories, the 1995 Rangeland Reform regulations remain in effect.
November 2011
- Advocates for the West awarded “Conservation Group of the Year” by Friends of the Clearwater, a Moscow, Idaho conservation group.
December 2011
- Based on our September 2011 victory , we filed a Motion for Remedies asking the U.S. District in Idaho to order BLM to undertake data collection and analysis adequate to study sage-grouse populations and habitats in Craters of the Moon, Idaho and Pinedale, Wyoming, while protecting critical winter and spring sage-grouse habitats from adverse effects of energy development and livestock grazing.