(CN) – A federal judge in Montana must decide whether or not to sever two cases challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s scaling back of protections for the West’s largest, million-acre sage grouse and transfer the claims to Wyoming.
Seven conservation groups — Center for Biological Diversity, Gallatin Wildlife Association, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Rocky Mountain Wild, Sierra Club, Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians — unsuspecting agency in March, challenging its adoption of resource management plan amendments to greater mercy for sage grouse in nine western states stretching from California to North Dakota.
Later that month, three other conservation groups—the Montana Wildlife Federation, the Wildlife Society, and Defenders of Wildlife—also sued the agency, specifically challenging the Wyoming and Montana plan amendments.
In both cases, the plaintiffs accuse the Bureau of Land Management of weakening previous protections for sage-grouse habitat by removing key restrictions and expanding oil and gas leasing. The bird is considered threatened, with populations in sharp decline due to habitat loss.
Both cases were filed in federal court in Montana and have not been consolidated, and on Monday, the state of Wyoming arguing they should be fired or at least terminated and the case transferred to Wyoming.
“Wyoming is a bastion of sages,” argued Ethan Paddison of the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office. “The group’s challenge to Wyoming 2025 (Resource Management Plan Amendment) strikes at the heart of this longstanding collaborative conservation framework between the state of Wyoming and the federal government.”
According to Wyoming, its resource management plan is different from other states because it took into account different underlying facts and local plans in developing it.
But US District Judge Brian Morris, an appointee of Barack Obama, signaled his concern about stalling cases if the courts return conflicting rulings. Appeals in Wyoming go to the Tenth Circuit and appeals in Montana go to the Ninth Circuit.
Wyoming argued that it had more Wyoming-related cases than any other state.
“The state has spent nearly three decades and more than $100 million developing and implementing the sagebrush core area strategy,” Paddison said.
The federal government agreed and asked the court to move all claims brought by the seven conservation class plaintiffs to the District of Wyoming.
“What we’re asking here is to do something different, to keep the case together, but to put it in a place, at least one of these places, where there’s a higher concentration of sage-grouse habitat,” said Justice Department attorney Luther Hajek.
Wyoming has 24% of the surface lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management designated as sage-grouse habitat, approximately 17 million acres.
Michael Freeman, the Earthjustice attorney representing the trio of conservation groups, asked the court to consider the case as a continuation of a recently decided The lynx case in which Morris dumped oil rent on lynx habitat.
“Instead of protecting the sage grouse by respecting the prioritization, the BLM has responded to this court’s rulings by trying to eliminate the priorities from its plans altogether,” Freeman said. “And just as this court found in the Lease case that national decisions should properly be tried together in a single court, and this court represents the proper place to do that.”
Transferring the case to Wyoming would reward a “rush to court,” Freeman argued. Plus, it would be inefficient for two courts to decide the same cases based on the same administrative record, he said.
Morris asked why there were two more lawsuits to begin with.
Freeman clarified that the trio of conservation groups are specifically focused on prioritizing oil and gas issues, though he acknowledged there are overlapping issues.
Andrew Missel, attorney with Lawyers for the West, which represents the largest coalition of conservation groups, agreed with Freeman.
“I think that transferring some or all of this case to Wyoming would not be in the interest of justice because it would effectively reward what I think is a pretty bare display of gamesmanship,” Missel said.
Morris again questioned why the two groups of conservation groups filed separate lawsuits.
“And you both happened to appear in the District of Montana,” Morris said.
Wyoming and the Western Energy Alliance filed suit against the Department of the Interior in the District of Wyoming, seeking a court declaration that the state’s amended plan complies with the law. Missel characterized the suit as a fraud.
Wyoming argued that the lawsuit is another reason why Morris should move the claims to Wyoming so the Montana court doesn’t risk a conflicting ruling with the Wyoming court.
Morris said he would return an order in the next two weeks.
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