Agency's Disregard for Desert Species Ruled "Arbitrary and Capricious"

Yesterday, the Center for Biological Diversity released some good news, courtesy of a federal court ruling against irresponsible, unethical, and illegal actions by a federal agency with regard to animals and environment in Arizona. Disregard for animals is the norm, not the exception, in government agencies, including the very ones set up to protect them, so it's good to hear judges loudly calling foul now and then:

In a major ruling on environmental and public-land law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco issued its ruling today striking down the federal government’s approval of a land exchange with mining giant Asarco, Inc. The court ruled that the federal Bureau of Land Management had violated various federal laws in agreeing to trade public land with Asarco, which Asarco wanted as part of its expansion of its massive Ray Copper Mine in Arizona. The court held that the agency’s actions were “arbitrary and capricious” and that the agency had not taken the required “hard look” at the exchange’s environmental impacts, including comparing impacts to the land and resources with, vs. without, the exchange.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Western Lands Project, and Sierra Club had challenged the land exchange in order to protect the important wildlife habitat in the area and in nearby wilderness. The lands subject to the exchange provide important habitat for rare plants and animals including desert tortoises, bighorn sheep, and many species of birds. If this proposed land exchange had been allowed to proceed, it would have essentially gutted the White Canyon Resource Conservation Area by allowing mining in a largely pristine place. . . .

The proposed exchange would have given Asarco 10,976 acres of public lands in exchange for 7,300 acres of the company’s private holdings, and would have facilitated the expansion of Asarco’s Ray Mine, an open-pit copper mine located 65 miles east of Phoenix and 50 miles north of Tucson. By gaining private ownership of the land, Asarco would no longer be subject to federal planning, reclamation, and bonding requirements designed to minimize and mitigate the environmental impacts of hard-rock mining operations.

Please read the Center release for far more of the details.

The good news here is, obviously, the court's decision. And the frustrating news remains that we have to go to judges to force federal and state agencies to uphold the law, that business interests and relationships so consistently trump animals' lives, environment, and even law. (Recall, for example, "Obama's Nominee for FWS: No Friend to Endangered Species."; and for another past discussion semi-related to this news, see "Obama Restores Endangered Species Protections--To a Degree," written even before we knew about Obama's FWS pick or how his administration would sell out the wolves, polar bears, and other animals.)