Ground Truth Blog
Agency Approves Plan for Arizona Copper Mine
The Forest Service has approved a Canadian firm’s plan of operations for a nearly $2 billion open-pit copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains of southern Arizona. Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Inc. plans to extract 112,000 tons of copper from the mine, as well as...
Judge Blocks Drilling Over Climate Concerns
In a ruling that could reverberate across federally managed lands, a U.S. district court judge on Monday found that the Bureau of Land Management must take climate change into account when deciding whether to approve leases for oil and gas drilling. U.S. District...
BLM Considers Burning Man Expansion
The Bureau of Land Management is considering a request to allow 20,000 more people to attend the Burning Man celebration in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert each year. Currently, 80,000 people are permitted to attend the event. In a draft environmental impact statement...
West Virginia Hydro Project Rejected
The Forest Service has rejected a proposal to build a $1.2 billion hydroelectric facility in the mountains of West Virginia, saying the project would harm rare species and degrade federally protected wetlands. FreedomWorks LLC, based in Harpers Ferry, wants to build...
It’s Official: Devil’s Staircase Protected as Wilderness
President Trump signed into law today a multifaceted public lands bill that at long last creates the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness Area in the rugged mountains of southwest Oregon’s Coast Range, a designation FSEEE has sought for more than a decade. Yesterday, FSEEE...
Court Rules Against Atlantic Coast Pipeline Again
The bad news keeps coming for backers of a controversial natural gas pipeline that would span the Appalachian Mountains. Yesterday, a federal appellate court declined to reconsider its earlier finding that the Forest Service overstepped its authority when it granted...
Forest Service Proposes Reopening Road Through Grizzly Habitat
The southern border isn’t the only place where Trump Administration proposals are stirring controversy. Last week, officials with the Idaho Panhandle National Forests issued a draft record of decision to rebuild a long-abandoned stretch of road just south of the...
Majority Support Keeping Roadless Rule in Place for Tongass
More than 140,000 people submitted comments or signed petitions on a proposal to revise or rescind a rule that protects wild stretches of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest from road-building and logging, with the majority voicing support for keeping the rule as is....
BLM Withdraws New Mexico Oil and Gas Leases
Facing pressure from conservationists, Native American tribes and members of Congress, Bureau of Land Management officials have decided not to offer oil and natural gas leases near Chaco Culture National Historic Park in New Mexico. In a brief statement released on...
More Problems for Atlantic Coast Pipeline
Construction has halted on the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline, as the pipeline’s proponents grapple with adverse judicial rulings and growing skepticism that the project will go forward. Dominion Energy, the project’s lead developer, is also facing increasing costs....
Groups Sue Forest Service Over Grazing
A pair of environmental groups is suing the Forest Service for approving livestock grazing in an area of southwest Colorado that is home to bighorn sheep. In establishing a new grazing allotment for domestic sheep in the San Juan Mountains, officials with the Rio...
Study: Owls Thrived After Rim Fire
The 2013 Rim Fire burned more than 250,000 acres in Yosemite National Park and the adjacent Stanislaus National Forest, making it the largest fire ever recorded in the Sierra Nevada. It also burned much of the best habitat for great gray owls, which are listed as...