Greens sue Interior over Hammonds' grazing permits

摘要

Environmentalists looking to overturn the Trump administration's last-minute decision to grant new grazing permits to a pair of Oregon ranchers previously convicted of arson for burning federal lands filed a new lawsuit yesterday accusing the Interior Department of a "rushed and truncated public process." The Western Watersheds Project, along with WildEarth Guardians, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Oregon Natural Desert Association, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. The case targets a decision by former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who granted 10-year grazing permits — covering 26,000 acres of public lands across four allotments — to father-and-son ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. Bernhardt signed off on the permits on his last full day at the agency's helm (Greenwire, Jan. 20). That decision marked the former Trump administration's second effort to return the Hammonds' cattle to public lands after environmentalists successfully challenged in court an earlier ruling by former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke (Greenwire, Dec. 23, 2019).