Legislation/Policy Article from All-Creatures.org

Millions of Dollars to Benefit Sage Grouse, Other Wildlife Delivered by Caldwell Canyon Mine Agreement


From Center for Biological Diversity
September 2024

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.” 

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Posted on All-Creatures.org: September 19, 2024
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