Isolated populations of sage grouse and other species are more likely to die out than populations that are able to interact with other regional populations. Phosphate mines have greatly reduced the ability of many species, including grouse, to move within and through southeast Idaho to connect with other populations. This settlement can be a first step in a much-needed larger effort to reconnect wildlife and their habitat in the region.
onservation groups announced today an agreement with mining company
P4 that will result in millions of dollars in payments and other
significant measures to benefit the conservation of sage grouse and
other wildlife.
Under the agreement, P4 — a subsidiary of Bayer AG — agrees to
contribute more than $5 million to a trust fund for sage grouse
habitat restoration and conservation, more than $2.4 million to
acquire land to protect wildlife habitat connectivity, and $300,000
for sage grouse population surveys. The company also agrees to
operational restrictions of its Caldwell Canyon phosphate mine in
southeast Idaho to minimize the mine’s impact on sage grouse.
“This is an important step toward addressing the environmental
damage from the Caldwell Canyon mine,” said Sarah Stellberg, a staff
attorney with Advocates for the West. “The conservation funds also
offer new hope for southeastern Idaho wildlife, waters and
communities still suffering from a century of phosphate mine
contamination.”
The agreement resolves a 2021 lawsuit filed by the Center for
Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth
Guardians challenging a decision by the Bureau of Land Management to
approve approximately 1,559 acres of ecologically important land
essential to the imperiled greater sage grouse and other species to
be strip-mined for phosphate. The conservation groups were
represented by Advocates for the West, the public-interest law firm
Smith & Lowney, and in-house counsel with the Center for Biological
Diversity.
“I’m glad this agreement will help conserve greater sage grouse and
curb the harms of this mining project,” said Lori Ann Burd, director
of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Environmental Health
Program. “This case helped make clear that the federal government
can’t simply ignore the environmental harms of phosphate mining.
This is a great start, but we’ve got to do much more to confront the
mining industry’s threats to sage grouse and other imperiled animals
and plants.”
In June 2023 a federal judge fully vacated a set of approvals by the
BLM authorizing development of the Caldwell Canyon phosphate mine;
the phosphate use permit; and rights-of-ways for a road, water
pipeline, fiber optic line and powerline. It also vacated the
agency’s environmental review under the National Environmental
Policy Act.
That ruling followed the court’s January 2023 decision finding that
the BLM had violated the National Environmental Policy Act and
Federal Land Policy Management Act when it approved the phosphate
mine without first analyzing and restricting, mitigating or
eliminating impacts to greater sage grouse, such as harms to habitat
and population connectivity.
P4 — an intervenor in the lawsuit — appealed those decisions,
resulting in mediation between the parties. The BLM is now reviewing
a newly proposed mine and reclamation plan and will be issuing a new
decision.
“Phosphate mining has had a serious negative impact on sage grouse
populations in southeastern Idaho, so we are hopeful that additional
protections required under the settlement and purchases of sage
grouse habitat will improve the prospects for the recovery of the
species,” said Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds
Project.
The sage grouse is an iconic western bird species. Once numbering in
the millions in the sagebrush sea, greater sage grouse have
significantly declined from historic numbers by as much as 93%.
“Isolated populations of sage grouse and other species are more
likely to die out than populations that are able to interact with
other regional populations. Phosphate mines have greatly reduced the
ability of many species, including grouse, to move within and
through southeast Idaho to connect with other populations,” said
Chris Krupp, a public lands attorney with WildEarth Guardians. “This
settlement can be a first step in a much-needed larger effort to
reconnect wildlife and their habitat in the region.”