"Public Lands: Federal Judge Blocks Hammonds' Grazing Permits, Again"

"A federal judge ruled that President Trump's pardon last year of Oregon ranchers Dwight Hammond and Steven Hammond likely isn't enough to justify former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's decision to reinstate the father and son's federal grazing permits.

Judge Michael Simon, an Obama appointee on the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, issued a preliminary injunction today forbidding the Bureau of Land Management from allowing the Hammonds to use one summer grazing allotment and restricting the use of a second allotment until the merits of a lawsuit filed by environmental groups challenging the permit renewals are resolved.

Simon's order was not unexpected after he earlier issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Hammonds from using the same 8,200-acre grazing allotment, and parts of another, that the environmental groups said includes important greater sage grouse habitat."

Scott Streater and Jennifer Yachnin report for Greenwire July 17, 2019.

Source: Greenwire, 07/18/2019