News
Conservation groups warn reckless CRA use has thrown public lands management into question
Advocates for the West and five of our conservation partner organizations sent a letter to the Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), warning that at least 5,033 oil and gas leases—covering nearly 4 million acres—may now be legally invalid. The letter asks the agency to halt all new leasing and permitting until…
Court action filed to protect resources, public involvement in massive Wyoming drilling project
Advocates for the West and our conservation partners are challenging an attempt by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to sidestep a 2024 court order halting the Converse County Oil & Gas Project in the southern Powder River Basin of Wyoming and unlawfully expedite development of new wells. Powder River Basin Resource Council and Western…
BLM Again Considering Four-lane Highway through Utah’s Red Cliffs National Conservation Area
On Friday, October 3, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced it is reassessing a right-of-way application from the Utah Department of Transportation for the four-lane Northern Corridor Highway through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area near St. George, Utah. The proposal has been rejected seven times, mostly recently in December 2024 by the BLM…
Proposed Sage-Grouse Management Undermines Current Protections and Sweeps Away Critical Conservation Measures
Conservation groups submitted comments today on the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed changes to the greater sage-grouse management plans, lamenting the potential roll-backs from protections the 2024 plans would have afforded the imperiled bird. The new management schemes would significantly weaken the existing plans, which have already proven inadequate to slow the decline of the…
Court Orders Less Reliance on Pesticide Spraying on Millions of Acres of Western Rangelands
A federal judge in Oregon confirmed the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) legal duty to consider preventative measures—rather than a “spray first, ask questions later” approach—in its program allowing insecticide spraying to kill native grasshoppers and crickets on millions of acres in 17 western states. The Court’s rulings also require APHIS to be…
Trump Administration Refuses to Protect Important Public Lands from Grazing Abuse
The Trump administration has quietly rendered “inactive” a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) policy directive to prioritize environmental monitoring and analysis of livestock grazing on public lands in sensitive habitats. The rescinded policy—Instruction Memorandum 2025-004—directed BLM field offices to complete long overdue National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews on grazing allotments within areas critical to…
Conservation Groups Challenge Air Quality Permit for Stibnite Gold Mine over Threat to Public Health
Today, Advocates for the West filed suit in Idaho state court representing the Idaho Conservation League (ICL) and Save the South Fork Salmon against the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for failing to protect public health in issuing an air quality permit to Perpetua Resources for the proposed Stibnite Gold Mine, an open-pit cyanide…
Idaho conservation groups challenge mine exploration in Boise River headwaters
Advocates for the West and our partners filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service for its approval of a mine exploration project on public lands in the headwaters of the Boise River. The CuMo Mine Exploration Project threatens critical clean water, fish and wildlife habitat, and the rare plant Sacajawea’s bitterroot. Despite overwhelming public opposition,…
Local Residents and River Advocates Sue Oregon over Water Quality Permit for NEXT Refinery
Advocates for the West filed suit against the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on behalf of Columbia Riverkeeper, the Northwest Environmental Defense Center, and two local residents for issuing a water quality permit for the proposed NEXT refinery located adjacent to the Columbia River Estuary near Clatskanie, OR. “At a time when the federal…
Victory! Court Rules Grazing Decision Poses Unacceptable Threat to Bighorn Sheep in Colorado
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a major conservation victory for bighorn sheep conservation on the Rio Grande National Forest. The Court ruled the U.S. Forest Service unlawfully disregarded scientific findings and arbitrarily altered the findings of its disease “Risk of Contact” modeling when it approved domestic sheep grazing on the Rio Grande…
