"Federal officials have withdrawn thousands of acres of land slated for sale to the oil and gas industry after courts demanded that the government take a closer look at greater sage grouse habitat protections and climate change impacts.

Conservation groups opposing the Bureau of Land Management's actions say a recent slate of deferred lease sales in Colorado, Nevada and Utah illustrate the problems with the Trump administration's aggressive push to encourage energy development on public lands.

"The broader pattern we've seen from this administration has been a headlong rush to get as much remaining sage grouse habitat under lease as possible," said Michael Saul, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity's public lands program.

He said the Trump administration's "energy dominance" approach has led BLM to violate federal laws like the National Environmental Policy Act."

Niina H. Farah reports for EnergyWire November 14, 2019. [2]