"BILLINGS, Mont. — A federal judge on Thursday overturned a Trump administration action that allowed mining and other development on 10 million acres (4 million hectares) in parts of six western states that are considered important for the survival of a struggling bird species.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill said the decision under Trump to cancel a prior effort to ban mining failed to fully consider how the move would affect greater sage grouse, a wide-ranging, chicken-sized bird that has seen a dramatic population drop in recent decades.
Winmill said the 2017 cancellation was arbitrary. He ordered the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management to reconsider whether mining should be allowed."
Matthew Brown reports for the Associated Press February 11, 2021.
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